The Ninth Annual Punjabi American Festival treated more than 10,000 festival goers to a diverse selection of cultural heritage, including world-class entertainment and mouth watering food. Held at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds on Sunday May 25th, and sponsored by the Punjabi American Heritage Society of Yuba City, the festival is a way for those with Punjabi roots to celebrate and share their culture.

Upon entering the festival grounds, one could not help but notice the flowing native dresses and colorful turbans, which added to the cosmopolitan air of the fairgrounds. Walking the grounds, participants enjoyed the tantalizing tastes of the exotic foods of Northern India along with Punjabi clothing, jewelry, art, books and more.

Inside the Fairgrounds auditorium, life in Punjab was depicted through a photo exhibit by Professor Janmeja Singh Johl and a painting exhibition by Jarnail Singh. In another auditorium, three educational documentaries in English were shown to the diverse crowd, including Mistaken Identity, Punjabi Village and Roots in the Sand.

The Punjabi American Heritage Society was founded in 1993 with the purpose of creating a better understanding amongst different people living in this area and to educate our children about their ancestral roots. In the past ten years, many events have been organized to improve awareness and to educate fellow Americans.

Throughout the day, from the opening of the fairgrounds, hundreds of local performing artists, including students from California schools, colleges and universities, performed traditional Punjabi dances such as Bhangra, Giddha, Malwai Giddha, Bengali and Gujarati. There were also guest performances by Scottish and Hispanic performers. The festival ended on a high note, highlighted by internationally acclaimed artist, Harbhajan Singh Mann while Manmohan Singh, Bollywood movie director, was honored for his work on the latest Punjabi movie: Jee Ayaan Nu.

Punjabis have roots in the Punjab region between India and Pakistan. Punjabis come from all faiths. While a majority of Punjabis in the USA adhere to the Sikh religion, many wearing a Sikh turban and beard, other Punjabis are of Muslim, Hindu, or Christian faiths.

Punjabis were the first group of people from South Asia to start migrating to the United States more than a century ago. Between 1903-1908, Punjabis primarily worked on the Western Pacific Railways in Northern California. And two thousand Punjabis worked on a 700-mile road between Oakland and Salt Lake City, which today is modern interstate 80.

The growing network of railroad lines brought increased agricultural activity to large areas of the Sacramento Valley. Because of their agricultural experience from the Punjab Indus Valley, which historians acknowledge was one of the first civilizations to invent agriculture, Punjabis started moving into farming jobs. Today Punjabis play a vital role in the agricultural industry of the entire Central and Sacramento Valley’s, and make up a majority of the South Asian population while also working in all kinds of businesses and professions.