Actress Kimi Verma at the Punjab American Festival, Yuba City, CA. Courtesy of the Punjabi American Heritage Society.
Yuba City’s Punjabi American Festival was inaugurated in 1995. The festival draws thousands of people from as far away as the Bay Area, Stockton, Canada, and England. Held every year in the Yuba/Sutter fairgrounds during the last weekend in May, the festival aims to promote cross-cultural understanding. Each year the festival showcases Punjabi entertainment, cuisine, and cultural exhibits, as well as featured speakers on a variety of topics. As Tejinder Maan, a member of the Punjabi American Heritage Society, explained, “Our goal is to promote our culture, pass it on to the next generation of kids, and to share it with the mainstream community.”
SOURCES:
“Celebrating Punjabi Heritage,” Appeal Democrat, May 29, 2016.
Punjabi American Festival Materials, Courtesy of the Jasbir Singh Kang Family.