East-West Times…Information you desire

     The Gujarati Society of Central Florida celebrated Navratri Festival with great zeal and enthusiasm. The event was organized at Lyman School – Longwood, on Oct 3rd, 4th, 10th & 11th. The Society extended the celebrations for one more day i.e. Oct 18 on popular public demand. The event was a great success with Raas and Garba lovers from all over central Florida attending to enjoy the music and dance.

     According to the organizers, “This year the numbers of participant broke all past records. On Oct 11th nearly 2,500 people witnessed this event. It was amazing to watch everyone playing Garba in colorful traditional dresses and ornaments till 2:30am every night.”

     “Youth of central Florida enjoyed this cultural event the most. This shows that this kind of event will preserve our culture in the next generation. This is the main motto of Gujarati Society. To move one step forward in this direction and to provide leadership opportunity to young generation, Gujarati Youth Society of Central Florida was also formed. This youth society will provide platform to young generation” added the organizers.

     On Oct 11th there was competition for costume and dance for participants of all age. Out of 140 competitors 16 were awarded trophies for best costumes and dance. All other competitors were given participation trophies by Tino Patel of Sky Telecom. Attractive toys distributed amongst the children were sponsored by Harish Shah of Value Mart. Prasad was sponsored by different restaurants of Orlando & Dry Fruits were sponsored by Vasudev Panchal of Shivam Distributiors. Members of the society were very happy to receive a gift (Lahni) which was sponsored by Nil Kapadia of Sunstate Oil.  There were many sponsors and donors who were instrumental in making this event a huge success. The advertisements of the sponsors were displayed through LCD projectors on wide screens on all the corners of the pavilion.

     The whole event was nicely coordinated by the committee members and volunteers under the dynamic leadership of President Nilkanth Kapadia and Trustee Chairman Jayesh Patel. To recognize their efforts mementoes were presented to them on the last day of the event. The president thanked everyone for their wonderful support.

     Melodious music played by Lakhia Brothers, Raj Pandya & Family and Bombay Group during different weekends made the hall rock while everyone danced to their beautiful music. Everyone present there was thrilled and delighted and had words of appreciation.

     Besides the Gujarati Society of Central Florida, several other organizers all over the state of Florida organized Garba Raas events for their members including the Palm Beach Indian Association, Indian Society of Florida, The Tampa Bay Gujarati Samaj and organizations in Jacksonville and Miami. The event of Navratri brought together groups of all ages to enjoy and share the spirit of the season with each other.