2005 Ethnic Enrichment Festival
Swope Park, Kansas City, Missouri
Friday-Sunday, August 19–21, 2005

Dear All:

We have had another successful festival this year, and owe thanks to many friends and members who volunteered their time and energy. Mark Broderson and Bilgehan Dağ came to help set the booth up despite the rainy weather on the 13th. Bilgehan, Osman Şahin, Murat Başata, Gülay Cenik, Atıl and Bengi Oğuz were present to tear down the booth. Rolyn Scheer and Paul Hensen took care of the transportation, installation and removal of the façade. Rolyn and Paul along with Marilyn Scheer, who designed the façade last year, deserve applause.

Several people helped run the food booth and the information desk. The list goes without any particular order and without regard to the size of the help: Cenk and Osman Şahin; Fatma, Dilay and Adem Arslan; Murat Doğangüzel; Hakan Arslanoğlu; Oğuz Berköz; Fikret Çankaya; Lisa Telgemeier; Serdar Tunçten; Renin Gilmore; Gülay Cenik; Seval Erdoğan; Bilgehan Dağ; Murat Başata; Bahar Yıldız; Neslihan Erten; Jim Nix; and Atıl Oğuz. Among these names, special thanks are due to Hakan and Oğuz for being there every year at our most desperate hour; Serdar for lending us his truck without which we would not be ready for business on Friday; Bahar for traveling to Kansas City every year to dance with the group at this festival; and Bilgehan and Murat for working extremely hard all three days. Bilgehan and Murat are Ramazan Başata's nephews from France; without them, we would not be able to open the booth in time on Saturday.

Several people worked hard in various food preparations. Lale Broderson, Lale Özer, Saliha Francis, Marilyn Scheer, Serap Kolo, Ruhan Roberts, Maz and Seval Erdoğan and Suna Özgen were present along with Bengi Oğuz to wrap dolmas on the 18th. Bengi worked hard till late hours the night before to prepare the stuffing. Saliha single-handedly made all the baklavas; we received compliments from patrons and representatives of some other countries to the effect that our baklava was the best! Likewise, Lale Broderson took upon herself to make all the piyaz, shopping for the ingredients and service cups, spoons and all; it proved a refreshing treat and a good addition to our menu this year. Emru Erten, as always, prepared all the yogurt sauce himself. All the hummus was made by Ramazan, and his nephews Bilgehan and Murat. Ramazan admits that, for the most part, the boys made it on their own.

Once again, we owe special thanks to Suna and Teoman Özgen for putting up a rich crafts section, and running it all three days. We have come to rely on Özgen's crafts so much year after year, we would have serious difficulty if and when they returned to Turkey.

Our stage performance on Saturday was a success, too. Two rounds of applause please: one to the Music Group, under the leadership of Serdar Tunçten and one to the Dance Group, under the leaderships of Emru Erten.

Mediterranean Market was again very helpful. Not only have they sold us food stuffs at a discount, they also procured the döner cones for us and charged the invoice only. Thanks to Seyhun family: Cihan, Janine, Sinan and Hülya.

Last but not the least, nearly all officers on the Board of Directors worked extremely hard before, during and after the festival. For the most part, I excluded them in the above paragraphs. However, they were present in most if not all activities; at the booth tear-down if not at the set-up, in the tricky food transportation business if not tear-down... Yavuz Kalafat was essential in keeping the whole effort together. Ramazan Başata was the booth manager this year; he did most of the shopping, planning, döner-cutting... Barış Şahin, Ersin Özharat, Lale Özer, Saliha Francis, Emru Erten, Marilyn Scheer and Lale Broderson worked with great enthusiasm inside and outside the food booth. Barış and Ersin both helped cut the döner and served at the Beer Garden on Friday. Emru was at the admissions gate along with Neslihan Erten and Bengi Oğuz on Sunday. Umut Güngör was able to give us a hand on Saturday in the middle of his moving ordeal. Valerie Francis was out of town on business. She designed, ordered and paid for beautiful laminated menus for us; this added significantly to the quality of our overall presentation.

Finally, I would like to thank all those, helper or not, who visited with us at this biggest event of the year. I was not there to greet you all since I was on duty in parking management; I apologize. The torrential rain fall Friday night caused a nightmarish parking situation on Saturday and Sunday, and I was not able to spare any significant length of time to stay at the booth. Also, I apologize in advance if I failed to recognize anyone's help. Corrections are welcome.

Great work everyone! Congratulations!

Nihat C. Oğuz
President