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Dance, snack and shop in India without traveling farther than USF's Sun Dome when local folks of Indian heritage present their largest annual cultural celebration.
By VALERIE Q. CARINO
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 2, 2000
When you try to look for culture with a capital C in Tampa Bay, your best bet is a festival.
The bay area has plenty. Hispanics have one. Filipinos have one.
Add one more to the list: the India Festival, coming this Saturday at 1 p.m. at the University of South Florida's Sun Dome.
The Gujarati Samaj, the area's most prominent Indian cultural organization, will celebrate the estimated 10,000 Indians living in the Tampa Bay area, bringing together music, food and fashion during this all-day festival.
Now in its 13th run, the event draws 5,000 to 6,000 people a year, with just as many expected this year.
"We would like to expose our Indian culture to all other people," said Vijay Patel, chairman of the India Festival.
Not to mention Indian kids.
Like most immigrants who raise children in the States, Indian parents make a point of teaching their kids cultural pride, Patel said. For the Indian community, the festival is an opportune time to involve those children with all its culture's rich offerings.
So don't be surprised when you see cultural dance after cultural dance on the Sun Dome's main stage. At last count, Patel said, about 52 dance groups will be performing.
"We wanted to have our own program so we could have our own kids perform cultural dances and to continue to learn what we are," Patel said.
Much of the entertainment for the India Festival will be provided by children. They range from youngsters to teenagers, and they have been practicing for two months in various churches and halls around Tampa and St. Petersburg. They'll compete, not for prizes but for bragging rights, Patel said.
Because the festival is its major fundraiser of the year, the Samaj didn't have to do a lot of advertising for this event. Through fliers, word-of-mouth and a clean, updated Web site (http://www.gujaratisamaj.org), the Samaj has already contacted Indian families and professionals in Tallahassee, Orlando and as far away as Alabama, to sample the food, music and wares of the local Indian community.
"People come from each county," said Ramesh Patel, who left his native Gujarat, India, in 1972 and is now the spokesman for the India Festival. "It feels good to come together and exchange ideas."
For spice lovers and vegetarians, festival organizers promise plenty to eat. About 20 of the 70 booths will be devoted to food, serving such non-meat dishes as samosa, a fried triangular pastry packed with vegetables, and pachori, a round pastry loaded with peas and spices. The food costs extra.
The chefs will be more moms and dads than restaurant owners, Patel assured.
The flavor, as always, will be authentic.
WHAT: India Festival 2000
WHEN: 1 p.m.-10 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: USF Sun Dome, 4202 E Fowler Ave., Tampa
COST: $6 adults, $3 children under 12