The 26th annual Ottawa Lebanese Festival ran over five days from July 20 to July 24 on the grounds of St. Elias Cathedral, celebrating different aspects of Lebanese culture and featuring activities for families and people of all ages.
The festival was created in 1990 and featured a variety of attractions, including nationally and internationally based dancers and performers, with shows in Lebanese music with time periods ranging from the distant past to the present.
Some other features of the festival were the Gabriel Pizza Family Midway which featured carnival-themed rides and booths, as well as traditional Lebanese food like shawarma, tabbouleh, hummus and saj, a type of flat bread that was made for visitors as they ordered it.
“Ottawa Lebanese Festival was formed to celebrate time-honoured tradition along with vibrant deep roots of the Lebanese community,” said the Lebanese Fest through a press release on their website.
According to CBC News, the Festival was not without its controversies though. Just last month, the Ottawa Board of Health voted to ban the use of water pipes in covered public areas, which put hookah at risk of not being included in the Beirut Lounge at the festival, a cafe made to recreate the experience of eating at a restaurant in Lebanon.
However, the controversy surrounding the hookahs did not have any effect on the attendance or tone of the festival and the water pipes were still present in the Beirut Lounge, but potentially for the last year.
“The 2016 Ottawa Lebanese Festival was an amazing year. We had record attendance which in turn benefits our charities . . . Over 38,000 people attended the festival this year,” said Ray Skaff, public relations person for the Gabriel Pizza Franchise Corporation, who organized the event, in an email.
“It was great to see the people from the national capital region turn out to experience the Lebanese culture,” he said.
The Ottawa Lebanese Festival is one of a large number of location-specific cultural festivals that take place in Ottawa each year. Others include Greekfest, taking place in mid-august, and Carivibe, which took place earlier in June.
Not only do these sorts of festivals serve as large meeting places for their specific communities, but according to Skaff, they expose the culture to other audiences.
“Every year, we strive to invite more people from Ottawa’s very diverse cultures to experience the Lebanese Festival,” Skaff said. “It’s an opportunity to put out some positive messages in these not always positive news cycles. We just want to continue to share our spirit and love in food, dance, music and good times.”
Skaff added running a Lebanese festival in Ottawa was an obvious choice due to the large community in the city and their excitement to share their culture with others.
“We are one of the largest cultural demographics in this area. This is our opportunity to proudly show our culture, values, and commitment to this area,” he said. “We have a lot of fun while sharing our open hospitality.”
