Arab Fest returns to Lake Eola in Orlando

posted on: May 19, 2015

The annual Orlando Arab Festival returned to Lake Eola on Sunday for its fifth year, raising the profile of a rising demographic in Central Florida

More than 100 vendors surrounded the Walt Disney Amphitheater, where performers ranging from a comedian to a belly dancer wowed the large crowds that gathered at the park.

The event was honored with an official proclamation from Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who declared Sunday Arab Fest Day in the city.

“We want to showcase our community and our culture – with music, food, vendors – and to bring the community together,” said festival director Khalil Saad. “We’re open to everyone, a free festival where anyone can come.”

Vienna Nemeh, of Orlando, president of the Arab American Community Center of Florida, said the purpose of the festival was to “represent our culture through arts and music, and to change the stereotypes and impressions people have in regards to the Arab community.”

The AACC helps with health benefits, immigration and employment, Nemeh said. The center is also non-political and non-sectarian, including both Christians such as Nemeh and Muslims alike

“We cover all of Central Florida, and we help whoever comes to our door, whether Arab-American or not,” said Janan Al-Awar Smither, a professor at UCF.

Al-Awar Smither said much of the center’s work has been helping refugees get acclimated to the U.S., including Coptic Christians from Egypt and Iraqis.

‘We have to prove ourselves twice,” Nemeh said. “We have to work twice as hard at everything to show we are not everything the media portrays us to be.

Dino AlKilani of Winter Park, enjoying a hookah pipe at the designated tent, said the event was “a great way to show the culture and the diversity of the community. A lot of people from different countries live here.”

As for hookah by the shores of the lake “I’m actually a hookah enthusiast,” he said. “And it’s nice to be able to do it out in the open. And it’s a beautiful view of Lake Eola.”

Source: www.orlandosentinel.com