The India-America Trade Fair, also known as Bhartiya Swadeshi Mela, has returned to Naperville for a second year, at the Mall of India parking lot, 776 Illinois Rt. 59. The event, organized by the DTribals Foundation, kicked off Thursday morning.
“The main motive of this event is to promote the international products in the international land or the US land. We have a lot of companies from India, Dubai, Canada, and different parts of the United States to sell their unique product and make their product visible in front of a big audience in the United States,” said Deepali Saraogi, founder of DTribals Foundation.
What’s in store at the 2024 India-America Trade Fair?
This year’s trade fair features over 100 vendors selling products like clothing, shoes, jewelry, home decor, and more. Guests will also have plenty of Indian food options to purchase.
To complement the shopping and eating, there will also be several cultural performances throughout the weekend.
“We have a live Garba event, which is [Sept. 13]. Then we have a Padmashri Kailash Kher event on [Sept. 14]. Then we have Masala Coffee. This is a South Indian band coming all the way from India to perform here, they will be performing on Sunday, [Sept. 15],” said Saraogi.
The India-America Trade Fair will run from Sept. 12 through Sept 15. Every day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Admission and concert tickets can be purchased on the Swadeshi Mela website.
Last year, Swadeshi Mela was a three-day event with over 18,000 attendees throughout the weekend. This year, DTribals Foundation added a fourth day, Thursday, and expects to see more than 30,000 people this weekend.
“We wanted to show everyone the unique culture or unique heritage of India in the US land. We are bringing this for our next generation so that they can come [and] experience the vibrant heritage or vibrant culture of both the countries,” said Saraogi.
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