August 3, 2004 > Festival of India Sponsors Career Fair

by Praveena Raman

Festival of India sponsored by the Federation of Indo Americans (FIA) will be returning to Fremont for the tenth consecutive year. The festival is a two day cultural extravaganza that has always enjoyed a huge attendance from the Indian community throughout the Bay area. For the past two years, festival organizers have been reaching out to the non-Indian Tri-City community, encouraging the participation of organizations like the Fremont Education Foundation. "It is our goal to engage all members of the community and truly make it a festival of the entire city of Fremont and the Tri-City," says Yogi Chugh, spokesperson for FIA.

The festival opens on Saturday August 14th and will run from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. A free health fair on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. will feature medical check ups, women's health issues, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar screening, fitness, dental, stress control, lung disease, eye exams, neurology and mental health, cancer, skin diseases, nutrition, gastro-enterology and cardiology. The main sponsor for the health fair is Washington Hospital with biotech companies such as Genentech participating at a lesser level.

For the first time, the festival will showcase a Career Fair on both days. Saturday will feature a cultural program in the morning and a youth program called "Reflections" in the afternoon. The afternoon program will include a dance competition. On Sunday, the fair runs from 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 p.m. A parade on Sunday begins at noon featuring floats representing the various states in India. For the second year in a row, the Fremont Education Foundation band will participate in the parade.

The 12th Annual Festival of India and parade will be held on Saturday August 14th and Sunday August 15th at 39439 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont (corner of Paseo Padre and Walnut Avenue).
The program for the festival is as follows:

Saturday, August 14, 2004
Free Health Fair - 9:00 am - 12:00noon
Mela (Fair) - 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
Cultural Program - 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Reflections (Youth Program) - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Dance Competition - 2:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Sunday, August 15, 2004
Mela (Fair) - 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Cultural Program - 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Parade - 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Gala Awards Celebrations - 2:30 pm - 5:00 pm