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The Indian Business Association will host the India Day Parade in Edison for the next nine years, thanks to an extension allocated at a council meeting last week. The Edison-based group had a permit to hold the parade for the next six years, but with the extension, the nonprofit will be able to host the parade for almost the next decade.
“The tradition of the parade will continue for the next decade,” Satish Poondi, legal counsel for the IBA, told Desi Talk. The parade has become a centerpiece for the community, Poondi said, adding that the IBA receives support from over a 100 local organizations and businesses to make the parade a success. “We anticipate this support getting stronger with each passing year,” he said.
Each year over 35,000 people attend the parade, headlined by a Bollywood celebrity, with the usual trimmings of a cultural program, shopping and Indian cuisine.
The parade however has been a contentious affair for the past several years, as two local Indian-American groups – the IBA and the Oak Tree Road Business Association – have been vying to host the event. In the past, the permit was given out on a year-to-year basis; some years, IBA got the permit; other years, it was the Oak Tree Road group. In 2012, both the groups got permits, and ran separate parades. Last year, Mayor Thomas Lankey gave the IBA a seven-year permit to run the parade.
IBA President Dhiren Amin told Desi Talk that the definite extension will help them plan for the future and improve the parade, which is held on Oak Tree Road in August. Preparations for the parade begin in November-December, Amin said, with the preparations of brochures and information packages for the various sponsors. “We put in a lot of work in parade,” he added.
Although the parade is IBA’s flagship event, the group also organizes various events like seminars and workshops throughout the year, Amin said.
The post Extension Given to Edison Group to Host India Day Parade for Next 9 Years appeared first on News India Times.
