A brand new festival in B.C. brought the entire community together to celebrate the essence of Ramadan.
Ramadan Fest took over the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey from Wednesday to Sunday, organized by local group Salaam Events.
“Ramadan is the month of blessings for Muslims. Millions of Muslims around the world. One of the things that we truly wanted to do is get a sense of that beauty of Ramadan and host an event not just for Muslims, but for everybody,” Yosof Hakimi with Salaam Events told Global News.
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The five-day event ran from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. and featured a cultural bazaar, Ramadan lights, a prayer space, iftar meals, and opportunities for non-Muslims to learn about the significance of the holy month.
“For people in the community to do their Ramadan gift shopping or Eid gift shopping, and also for other communities to see the variety of multicultural items out there,” Hakimi said.
Mostafa Azarbar, co-founder of Karavan Premium Meats and one of the many halal food vendors at the festival said he felt a sense of pride seeing the event come to life.
“It’s been exciting. This is a great opportunity. Ramadan is all about having food together and this is about togetherness. It’s bringing together different multicultural people and different cultures together are sharing their plates.”
Festival organizers said more than 35,000 people attended the event, and seeing such a positive response means they are on the right track to turning this into an annual tradition.
“This was a mission of ours for a couple of years now – and you know, it was about time so we’re really happy to bring this inclusive event to the community,” Hakimi said.
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