I think these photos say it all!

There wasn’t a dull moment this entire weekend. Once again, a Friday to Sunday was spent in Philadelphia. This time the event was the AYF 70th Anniversary Gala with an Entertainment line up that the East Coast has never seen, maybe even the West Coast.

I’ll start from the beginning. We arrived at the hotel Friday night and quickly settled in to get to the dance on time. The starting band was a mix of the Aravod Ensemble, Philly Kef, and Michael Gostanian Ensemble. They started the night with good shoorch bar dancing and as the younger crowd filtered in from all over the East Coast, West Coast and Canada, we knew we were in for a good time. Groups of people drove down in their vans and cars from Montreal, Boston, Albany, Providence, New York, New Jersey, Detroit, Baltimore and Washington. The rest flew in from Chicago, Los Angeles and probably more places that I’m not even aware.

Karnig Sarkissian was the next Ensemble of the night. He sang heghapokhagan songs and it felt like the entire room was often singing along. The dance ended early and the crowds moved up to the rooms and suites for the after hours parties. I caught up with some good friends I feel like I haven’t seen in ages.

Saturday was off to a late start, and unfortunately, I had meetings all day, so I don’t know what happened otherwise until the evening. Doesn’t matter, that’s when the fun started. The evening began with a cocktail hour for special donors. From there, we moved to the serious four course dinner with filet mignon. There were some emotional speeches about the 70 years that made the organization what it is today. With personal stories and jokes, it brought out the sentimentality of the weekend. Not long after, Onnik took the stage. Onnik Dinkjian, John Berberian and an Ensemble of all stars pleased the alumni crowd, the ones who remember AYF days with the sound of an oud and dumbeg and shoorch bars across the dance floor.

Then there was Harout. There were people who traveled from Montreal and LA just for Harout. Well, they got what they wanted. The dance floor was packed like sardines to the point that the groupies at the front just started filling the remaining space on the stage, as you can see in the photo. Everyone was having a good time, and then it all came to a quick end. The big issue was that the dance was too short. Well, things could have been worse.

So we went to the rooms, and what do I find but Harout in the room me and my friends were hanging out in. Somehow, the band migrated up there. They probably regretted it soon after as there wasn’t a drop of alcohol in the room. The night continued in such a random fashion, somehow I ended up driving some of the LA guys (turned East Coast) out to Philly for some Philly Cheese Steaks at 5 am. That’s a story to tell off-line. J And so we made our way back, slept in late and Sunday was the miserable morning after. There was a barbeque, so bunch of us went, stuffed ourselves, looked like zombies, and parted ways. Another weekend in Philly… and the last for a while! Next trips: New York, Armenia and Chicago. Oh yes, I said Armenia…