NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (KCRG) – Saturday, tons of of individuals attended the Harvest Festival, hosted by the India Association of Iowa City Area (IAICA).

For eleven years now, the Harvest Festival has given individuals with cultural ties to India an opportunity to have fun their roots.

“We share our culture. We’re sharing childhood memories,” mentioned Usha Balakrishnan from Iowa City.

Balakrishnan got here to the U.S. when she was twenty years previous. She and others mentioned this occasion gives loads of consolation to those that immigrated to the U.S. from India.

‘We come for a lot of camaraderie, the cultural experience,” she said.

That camaraderie along with food, clothing, music, and dancing serve to connect younger generations to their parents’ dwelling nation.

“A lot of our kids grow here, and we would still like them to be connected with the heritage,” mentioned Gitan Shah, President of the IAICA. “We show the clippings of these to the grandparents and community back in India. They feel really happy because they—for Indians, social culture and heritage is so important.”

According to Census data, Asian Indians grew to become the biggest Asian alone inhabitants group in 2020, rising by over 50% between 2010 and 2020.

That rising inhabitants means a rising pageant.

“People not only from Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, we do have representations coming from all the way from Quad Cities, Dubuque, and I think I heard a couple of them are coming from even Des Moines. So it’s vastly expanding,” mentioned previous IAICA president Sudhakar Subramani.

Balakrishnan mentioned connecting with those that really feel a connection to India is a technique to nonetheless really feel a way of dwelling.

“It just feels awesome. And that’s why I’m here,” mentioned Balakrishnan.

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