Pakistani Culture Showcased in Roseville, California
By Ras Siddiqui

Saturday, June 8, 2024, was another exciting day in the City of Roseville as the annual Pakistan Cultural Festival was held there once again at the Vernon Street Town Square, bringing with it an array of colors, cuisine and music to the delight of hundreds of visitors.

This festival is our one free and open-to-the-public opportunity in Placer County to see the Red, White, and Blue of America harmoniously blend in with the Green and White colors of Pakistan. An American-Pakistani effort would be the best description of this festival. The Pakistani community has been here in this region for over a hundred years, ever since “British Indians” mainly from the Punjab came to California for the first time and settled here.

Right off the (Cricket) bat here, a fact that needs mention is that the festival held here for the third year running, is purely cultural, and there is no religious or international political dimension to it. This is a rule that the local organizers strictly adhere to and instead of those elements, there is plenty of family fun, great food, shopping (ethnic products), and plenty of music and dance to enjoy. Pakistan itself is a country of sub-cultures with overlapping ethnicities with both Afghanistan and India. But the one fact that many may not be aware of is that in Pakistan live the largest number of the ethnic Baloch, Pashtun, Punjabi, and Sindhi people, more than anywhere else in the world. Pakistan is currently also the world’s 5 th largest country in terms of population.    

But now to the festival. As we reached the venue at around 11:30 AM we caught first half event emcee Asif Haq on stage welcoming everyone and thanking them for attending. He said that the organizers were very happy with the turnout. He also acknowledged the great effort that went into putting this program together by Pakistani community members residing in El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Granite Bay, Rocklin, Roseville, and the Greater Sacramento region. Asif also added that the organizers are not professional event planners and have put in a lot of their effort pro bono.

On the reason why this festival was taking place, Haq said that we are doing this because of our love for Pakistani culture and with the intent to introduce that culture to our local friends and neighbors and the wider area community. He hoped that the festival would enrich America, which is a melting pot of many world cultures, and lead to better understanding and community fellowship among all of us. Asif thanked the City of Roseville, event sponsors, some key individuals, and the area media for helping to get the word out about this festival. He also shared the program schedule for the afternoon.

The Chief Guest Mayor Bruce Houdesheldt congratulated the group for holding their third Pakistan Cultural Festival in Roseville and thanked them for choosing Vernon Town Square as the venue once again. He said this is consistent with the city’s strategic plan for attracting and connecting cultures in our city. Through food, and through music, the connections become possible. He added that he had learnt new things here already, that K2, the second highest mountain in the world, is in Pakistan, and that Punjab is in both Pakistan and India and that the largest irrigation system in the world is in Punjab.

The mayor thanked the organizers for the invitation and mother nature for the wonderful weather. He also appreciated the Pakistani community for its contributions to science and technology in the area and to our society and culture. On a side note, we must thank Bruce for having the right dance moves to Pakistani folk music and even inspiring some of us to join in!

The festival did attract some local political aspirants. This writer ran into Neva Parker running for Assembly District 5, Karen Alvord running for Roseville City Council, Cassie Lin for Roseville City School Board, and Hla Elkhatib for Folsom City Council. They all appeared impressed with the festival and took the opportunity to network.  

Now before proceeding here, one must thank the sponsors for making this festival fiscally possible. This time there were seven of them namely Town & Country Event Center (Waqar Khan), East West Market, Catering & Events (Farrukh Hashmi), We Do Designs (Mukhtar and Rabina Khan), IHOP (Tariq Munir), Modern Aesthetics (Shahzad Anwar), and Make Places Smart (Ilyas Ahmed). Kudos to all of them.

And next, if one must even hazard an attempt to recognize all the people who planned and executed this wonderful festival (without leaving anyone out), here is an attempt. With Ehsan and Humaira Hadi, Shafique Ahmed and Beela Shaikh leading, emcees Asif, Hareem and Omar, Iram Khan (dance), Nadia Shams (flyers), Nida (photography), Ilyas Ahmed (multiple roles), Romana Asim, Musarrat Malik and Arshad Iqbal (culture display stall), Parveen Ahmed (logistics), Farhan Shaikh (sound and music) Zareen Jan (accounting), Shaista Khan and group (calligraphy), Aysha Mahmood (Ambassador Group leader) and Nighat Iqbal (photo booth). Besides, at least 40 other people from the community provided their input. Great effort everyone!

Entertainment at this event was provided by Shaiq Chisty (flute and harmonium) and Shahrukh Chisty (sitar) assisted by Jibran Khan (tabla). The headliner was Sherry Khan who presented a bouquet of songs ranging from Sufi Soul to Punjabi Bhangra. And closing the entertainment section was our very own Spoken Word /Rap artist Zaki Syed (Zaki Bhai).

The organizers also took the time to thank the local television and print media for assisting in pre-event coverage of this festival and helping to spread the word locally. They were CBS Channel 13, Fox 40, KCRA 3 and Good Day Sacramento Channel 31 and Style Magazine. This writer is adding Gold Country media here for post-event coverage (Roseville Press Tribune). And let us not forget the Pakistan Link. 

It would not be possible to describe all that the festival had to offer in this report, but music, food, and fashion dominated. One attendee told us that it was the smell of barbeque that drew him here as he was walking by. Others said that it was high-energy music. And several people mentioned that it was the ethnic dances presented by the Pakistani ladies on stage that absolutely floored them and changed their perception of the country.

To conclude, this cultural festival was about Pakistan, the country, and its people, but the target audience was not necessarily Pakistani. It is possibly the only such annual event in this entire region, which is meant for the non-Pakistani mainstream community, for them to come visit and enjoy and discover who Pakistanis are and what they contribute to local society. The organizers hope to continue this festival next year for those that missed the opportunity to participate this time around. Till then we leave our readers here with the Sindhi saying “Ho Jamalo” which when paired with its music, can become a divine dancing opportunity!