NC Turkish Festival Closes on a Resourceful Note

Today ends my commentary on the NC Turkish Festival sponsored by the Divan Cultural Center in Cary. As you know Raleigh and Cary have a large Turkish population, so I’ll let you know about a few of the resources for our local area.

 

If you haven’t checked out my video from Wednesday, you should. I met for lunch with some of my new Turkish friends to everyone’s delight. Can you imagine four Turkish women and a yabanci (foreigner) sharing lunch together for the first time? The noise we made attracted many onlookers due to our laughter and hugs and kisses, Eyvallah!

 

The Turkish Festival also witnessed lots of laughter and hugs and kisses. Friendly faces welcomed a relaxing day filled with Turkish food and lots of entertainment from the Bluestar Dance Troupe and Turkish Folk Dancers and the saz concert by Tarik. A few informational tables decorated one side of the festival, but for me, my favorites were the Harmony Mediterranean Market and Nil Varinca.

 

In Cary for many years now, the Harmony Market sits in the shopping strip mall down from TJ Maxx on Cary Towne Blvd. Harmony carries a wide variety of all your Turkish specialty foods, tea, sodas, jams, cezeriya and even a few essentials like Turkish teapots, souvenirs and the occasional blue evil eye to keep bad spirits away. Visit Selim Sen, the owner, for all your favorite Turkish foods, sweets and condiments. Every Saturday Selim features fresh simit for your epicurean tastes.

 

With the economic downturn this past year, festival goers wanted new and different ways to save money and right-size their households. In comes Nil Varinca of Nil Realty to teach you how to find the best house for your pocket. Nil greeted us with her friendly smile and shared what people need to know about the real estate market today. She even introduced me to Ali Baba, man of many Turkish secrets and speaker of seven languages.

 

Nil knows all about how the new stimulus act will benefit new home buyers, the credit increases for this year and income restrictions. You’ll be surprised what she has to say about how this economy can actually be the best time to buy, especially in Cary. It still ranks in the top places to live in the country and property here in Cary keeps its value far beyond that of other locales.

 

An added feature, Nil speaks fluent Turkish, so she can help your family members from Turkey understand real estate in America and the best plan to find their dream home or summer house. With more than 25 years experience, trust your real estate needs to Nil Varinca.

 

After you’ve bought some property, go celebrate at the Bosphorus Restaurant. Yes, it’s in Cary too. Every day The Bosphorus packs in the people who want to feast on Turkish culinary delights. While Onur Dilekoglu will playfully seat and serve you, his father masters the delicious food to tempt your taste buds. They serve only authentic Turkish food with an Anatolian spark. Better call ahead or come early because the place fills up fast. Tell Onur that Bea sent you.

 

You can find more Turkish resources in the greater Raleigh area courtesy of the ATA-NC website. Also, tell me what you think of the photos from the event.

 

See you next year at the NC Turkish Festival!

Comments

[buy drugs online]

I didn't realize it either.. Thanks for the information..

[Bea]

Aren't we lucky. There's a large Turkish population here in the Raleigh area. Check out my blog post of 11 May. Everyone is invited.

[LT James]

I didn't even realize that NC had a Turkish festival.