Grand New Year Celebrations by Katy – Greater Houston Tamil Friends!

KATY: Greater Houston Tamil Friends celebrated the New Year with a grand event at Tompkins High School on Saturday, January 7. The entire commons area wore a festive look with more than 600 people in attendance from Katy, Fulshear, Houston, Cypress, Sugar Land and Pearland.

The event started with the traditional Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu and was followed by a series of scintillating performances by both adults and children. Songs, dances and instrumental music flowed in rapid succession, and with the comperes chiming in with their jokes, the audience was kept fully engrossed. Special entertainment was also arranged for the younger children; magic show, face painting and balloon twisting were all available and kept the kids in great spirits.

Greater Houston Tamil School board members and teachers were called on to the stage and appreciated by the audience for their efforts in teaching and promoting Tamil.

An interactive dance by Nithya Hari was a popular hit and got a huge number of people shaking their legs! This year’s event also featured family portraits by Murali Santhana and a selfie photo spot by Lavanya Arts. Both of them were major successes with the attendees. Sari, Jewelry and Henna vendors were also available onsite and attracted the women audience.

A sumptuous dinner was catered from Briyani Pot and was appreciated by one and all. Post dinner, the stage was taken by Pinnacle Studios. The singers, Karthika Mahadev, Barani Krishnan and Krishnamurthy L., enthralled the audience with a great mix of songs.

The event was sponsored by KasTech, Sierra Inc., Mass Mutual, Re/Max, Johnson Development, NewGen Dental, Smile Rangers Dental, Vishala Grocery, Bombay KT Bazaar and Swagath Grocers. The sponsors were all called on to the stage and honored. The sponsors also graciously provided several raffle gifts for the audience.

An event of this magnitude would not have been possible without the excellent support from volunteers. More than 50 volunteers including several student volunteers helped run the show and were all invited on to the stage during the vote of thanks.

The evening ended on a pleasant note with a few more songs by the singers!

To be invited for future events, please email @ katytamils@gmail.com or join Katy Tamil Friends Facebook group.