Chicago’s Richard J. Daley Center was filled with curious passers-by and fervent enthusiasts as the Turkish American Cultural Alliance (TACA) held their 15th annual Turkish Festival.
The free-of-charge, three-day event hosted in Daley Plaza ran from Sept. 13 to Sept. 15, attracting a whole host of attendees from both the city and from the surrounding suburbs. Clarissa Dean, hailing from Oak Lawn and a student at Governors State University (GSU), was pleasantly surprised to have attended.
“I didn’t even know that they had one… my friends told me about it and I was kinda iffy about going… but I still am really enjoying,” said the student.
Individuals such as Ms. Dean made the trip downtown to partake in, according
to TACA, the festival that has “become a model and an inspiration for many ethnic groups in Chicago and was declared as ‘the richest and best organized ethnic festival’ by the City of Chicago.”
Certainly, the festival didn’t skimp out on any of the activities that they had offered to the public.
With Turkish dancing, music, cuisine, and artistry from all over the globe, TACA came together to entertain Chicagoans and communicate the hallmarks of a culture over 1000 years old.
“The purpose of the Chicago Turkish Festival is to introduce Turkish heritage and hospitality with its art, culture, tourism, music, and cuisine to our American friends,” remarked TACA.
In particular, international artist Selat Metin consistently drew crowds to his tent as they gazed upon his proficiency with “Ebru,” a unique style of Paper Marble artistry that he had learned while in Turkey.
“Metin was introduced to Marbling art and learned it from the worldwide famous Ebru artist Hikmet Barutcugil… he made the world’s biggest Ebru together with Hikmet Barutcugil in the Frankfort Book Fair where they represented Turkey as the honorary guest,” TACA commented.
Along with the demonstration pieces that Metin created during the festival, he had also accepted simple commissions that day from audience members, attracting no small amount of casual and serious art patrons to his booth.
Ms. Dean, one such patron, said, “I came over here [because] I saw the crowd… I’ve taken some art history classes at GSU and I thought the [Paper] Marbling stuff was really cool, so I bought a flower pattern… he’s making [it] for me right now.” For more physically-oriented festival goers, TACA also organized a plethora of dances and musical numbers to observe.
These ranged from the calm and traditional Whirling Dervish dance to the frenetic yet synchronous movements of the Adiyaman folk dance to the steady and sanguine percussion showcase.
One dance even enlisted the participation of the audience members; the performers invited people up to the stage and linked arms with them, guiding them through the basic routine. Cooper Oremus, one of the public participants, remarked that the dance was easy to get into.
“It was pretty cool… and everyone was pretty into it…. didn’t understand a word of it, but I’d do it again,” he said.
In the in-between of these dances were Turkish fashion shows, serving as a welcoming, but stimulating respite from the kinetic action.
All the while, local Turkish and Mediterranean restaurants provided an alluring aroma, providing a captivating culinary selection for Chicagoans and travelers alike. As the performances tapered off, the spectators began to turn their attention to the rest of the festival grounds. What they discovered were ample sources of Turkish literature, jewelry, fashion, ceramics, and other artisanal crafts for purchase from domestic and foreign specialists.
Mr. Oremus commented that he ended up buying a couple pieces of jewelry for his friend that couldn’t make it to the festival, and commented that he was very grateful to have attended.
“It’s been pretty worth it to have come here so far… probably going to drag [my friend] to this thing next year if they have it again,” he said.
Joshua Mira
News Reporter
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