The Iranian Society of Washington State (ISWS) recently celebrated their third annual Public Nowruz Celebration at Marina Park Pavilion, by Lake Washington Shores in downtown Kirkland.

The event had a large turnout on March 18, with Persian food, music, vendors, display of traditional haft-seen, along with girls and a young man dressed in traditional Persian costumes.

“The festivities of this special day celebrate rebirth and the new season of light and growth,” said mayor Amy Walen in a congratulatory letter to the ISWS. “Your ancestors rejoiced at the sowing of seeds to grow crops. Today you are here in Kirkland sowing seeds of cultural awareness, understanding and knowledge of your rich heritage that has contributed so much o the entire world.”

Nowruz means New Day and is Persian New Year celebrated by eleven other countries, with different ethnicity and religious background. Nowruz starts at the exact moment of vernal equinox, changing season from winter to spring.

The ISWS’s public celebration of Nowruz promotes cultural diversity and inclusion, which is congruent to ordinance O-4558, Kirkland’s Safe Inclusive Welcoming Ordinance. The ISWS’s mission is in support of ordinance O-4558.

“We would like to say thank you to our mayor, Amy Walen, the City of Kirkland, Police Department, and everyone involved for their support,” said Guita Baldwin, one of the event’s organizers. “Understanding other people’s culture helps break the barriers of racial and ethnic divide”