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History of Gujarati Cultural Association of Arizona A handful Gujarati pioneers and community leaders congregated in 1979 to celebrate a first organized Navartri Utsav. This event resulted in formation of Gujarati Cultural Association of Arizona in 1981. Constitution was written primarily to help Gujarati immigrants to maintain and promote Gujarati culture and brotherhood among Gujarati families in this new environment. In early 1980's Navratri celebration was primarily at elementary school with garba sung by local communities and dandiya raas were primarily played with the tune from pre recorded audio cassette. Picnic was organized by making phone calls to individual members. As the community grew, thus the new era began for GCA. Today we celebrate all the events in grand style as we bring groups from India for Navratri, picnics are done on a very large scale, bringing dramas to our communities on annual basis, distributing lahni during Navratri, organizing Diwali dinner,celebrating Shard Purnima, distribution of directory, and celebrating many other events that are listed in this website under "Events" tab. Looking back, the spirit and enthusiasm from the following presidents, their spouses, and many GCA members, have grown our association to a very active, respnosive, and financially a sound organization.
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