Festival Celebrates Arab Culture

posted on: Jun 22, 2010

Thousands of people from metro Detroit and beyond spent Fathers Day at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn where they soaked up sun, rides, food, music and culture.
Advertisement

“It’s incredible,” said Warren David of Northville, founder of Arab Detroit, a media site that had a booth at the festival. “We need events like this to help people see Arabs as human beings. You can get beyond the headlines and stereotypes and see Arabs have a heritage and culture.”

Up to 250,000 people were expected to attend the three-day festival that ends tonight and is billed as the largest Arab festival in the U.S. It stretched several blocks along Warren Avenue, the main commercial strip in east Dearborn, which has a large concentration of Arab-Americans.

There were a number of information booths on everything from religion to banking to community projects. One of the more popular sites was a tent set up by the CIA — one of the festival’s big sponsors — that featured free souvenirs and information about how to work for the intelligence agency.

The festival also featured several other U.S. government agencies, such as the FBI, U.S. Army, and the U.S. Intelligence Community.

And there were booths that sold hookahs, perfume, toys and t-shirts.

Mike Mallah, a Palestinian-American, from North Carolina, came to the festival to sell t-shirts he designed that read “Not a Terrorist.”

“I thought it would be a good message because of the stereotypes that exist,” he said.

Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press

Picture caption:
Warren David of Northville, founder of media site Arab Detroit, talks to a passerby at his booth at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn.
Niraj Warikoo/DFP