On August 9th, Turkish American Federation of Midwest President, Vice President, and members of the Chicago Turkish American Chamber of Commerce participated in the annual Illinois State Fair in its state capital, Springfield.
The Annual Illinois State Fair celebrations started on August 9 and continued for 11 days; thus, gathering the highest attendance of the decade. More than 950,000 people attended at this event, the highest attendance since 2002, when an estimated 1.2 million people visited the fair that year.
The Illinois State Fair is an annual fair mainly focused on the theme of agriculture. The first fair was celebrated in 1853 in Springfield, IL and has been celebrated annually ever since.
Luckily, the Turkic American community has had the good fortune of staying continuously active over the years as they participate within the fair.
TAFM President Suleyman Turhanogullari and Vice President Bilal Eksili together with the help of representatives from the Chicago Turkish American Chamber of Commerce also took part in that festival. During their participation at the fair, they were given the opportunity to represent Turkic American communities as proud Illinoisans and had a great time discussing US-Turkic relations, particularly agricultural business in Turkey, with the state’s political leaders.
“We hope these kinds of festivals and activities will serve as an integration bridge for members of Turkic American communities of this great state of Illinois,” Mr. Turhanogullari said.
