Basant Festivities in the San Francisco Bay Area

What a day of celebration last Sunday!!! Baylands Park was filled with more than 1500 people in colorful attires, smiling faces, music, dances and, of course, the sky filled with kites.

The day started with delicious food from Mehran and Gyros Express, vendors selling jewelry, cloth, hina painting and other ethnic items. Jumper house, face painting and many more games were super hits with the children.

Kite lovers started coming in droves around 2:30 pm at about the time that the music and children stage program started. The musical program was conducted by PACC singers Almas and her team: Manohar and Krishnan. People loved the livelymusical performance by the singers. Children of the community enthusiastically took part in kite parade, songs and traditional Pakistani dances. There were more entries for kite competition than there was room for or the time available.

The winner of the competition who got the trophy was a young man Mohammad with 26 kills beating last year’s record of 13. Music with dances and kite flying continued well after the official closing time of 5:30 pm. And to top it all, we collected more than $300 for the displaced people of Swat. A memorable event indeed! - PACC

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