Every day, we are engaging with different cultures all around us. Sometimes we venture out and purposefully get involved with an event to engage with a culture that is unfamiliar. Or you are the one living within in the unfamiliar culture and a taste of home is what you’re missing. 

Fort Wayne celebrates Arab culture with Arab Fest, June 1-2, at Headwaters Park. 

Come together over food

This festival is on its seventh year in Fort Wayne, and many locals are excited to attend again. 

As for chairperson Rema Addrayie, she’s most excited to see people come together.

“I think that Arab Fest is important because it allows for our local community to connect with Arab culture in person rather than what they would only see in the media,” she said. 

“It’s great because we are able to share the things we love most about our culture: food, music, and dance. 

“This year, I’m very happy that we have been able to partner with a local restaurant for the food, Gibli Middle Eastern Fare, located at the Union Street Market in Electric works. I’m a fan of their delicious food and hope that this gives a larger group of people the chance to try their food as well.” 

Keep busy

On top of the delicious food, which will include desserts from Nefertiti Sweets and drinks from Lu Garden, there will be dancing. 

Have you always been amazed by other traditional performances? 

Well, now is your time to not only watch the Thowra Dabke dance group, but also learn a fun new dance. The group out of Michigan teaches two types of dabke from the Levant region, which includes Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria.

Maybe dancing is not your thing. Don’t fret! 

There will be plenty of booths for local art, crafts, fair trade items, music from Salaam, and henna tattoo art. 

One thing many are excited for this year is return of a camel, which was absent last year. 

This year, Fort Wayne’s Joy Journey Farms is bringing their camel Roscoe. There will not be rides, but can you feed Roscoe, brush him, and take pictures with him. 

Learning experience

Arab culture is respected around the world for their social loyalty. Their culture places a big emphasis on hospitality and friendliness. 

Arab Fest is meant to bring their culture together as well as introduce others to it. 

There is no better time to learn more about Arab culture, especially because this festival is free. All are welcome to stop in for a minute or stay a while. 

Getting to learn about other cultures is something that is important for everyone to be a part of. Knowing other cultures and learning their ways is a critical part to living within a society. If cultures were all separate and functioned in their own area with zero foreign relationships, our world would not be able to co-exist within itself. 

It gives us a peek into another human’s life that may be very different from our own. 

“I hope that people come out and enjoy the festival and see the beauty and generosity that is Arab culture  and enjoy themselves so much the first day that they return for the second,” Addrayie said. 

For more information, check out the Facebook page for Arab Fest — Fort Wayne.