First Lady, Naadu Mills To Grace Ghanafest 2009

….other dignitaries include, The Minister of Culture and Minister of Water Resources.
The first Lady of the Republic of Ghana,Mrs. Naadu Mills, will make history when she attends Ghanafest 2009 tomorrow at the Washington Park in Chicago. She will be the first, First Lady, to attend the most notable Diasporian cultural festival. The quite unassuming first Lady is in Chicago for another event but agreed to grace the festival when she was asked by the organizers,The Ghana National Council of Metropolitan Chicago, GNC, a few weeks back.

Also in Chicago to piggyback on the grand celebrations is the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo .Meanwhile the Ministry Of Culture & Chieftaincy, Mr Alexander Asum-Ahensah will be among the distinguished dignitaries scheduled for the July 25 2009 celebrations in Chicago. He notified the organizers today that he will arrive tomorrow morning to participate in the annual festival.
Former Ghanaian President, Jerry John Rawlings, Mayor of Chicago,Richard M.Daley, Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan and almost all past Ghanaian Ambassadors in the US have in the past made appearances at Ghanafest. The keynote speaker of this year’s Ghanafest is Mrs. Naadu Mills. Chicago's Ghanafest is exclusive because it offers a mixture of different Ghanaian cultures and traditions on the same stage. Majority of the attendees are members of the Ghanaian-American community in Chicago and Ghanaians across the Globe.There is also a large group of non-Ghanaians presence at the festival. At GhanaFest, one will expect to see a procession of richly dressed chiefs and queens; endless dancing to variety of Ghanaian music and other traditional performances; African Arts and Craft, and lots of delicious and authentic selections of Ghanaian food.
“Today the small community event which started over two decades ago, is now the largest Ghanaian cultural celebrations of its kind in the diaspora and attracts over ten thousand participants yearly”, sources at Ghanaweb noted. The organizers have recently brought the festival to the global audience by their massive advertisement on Ghanaweb and other Ghanaian portal news sources. The attendance by notable Ghanaian officials has also helped to promote the festival massively.
Mr. CNN and his crew of photographers will cover the event for Ghanaweb and other major Ghanaian news sources. The local popular newsprint, The African Spectrum will also be there to cover the event.
To preserve the cultural celebrations for Ghanaian generations yet to be born, the cash strap organizers has resorted to charging $5.00 per adult of over 12 years old. When Ghanaweb contacted the president of the GNC, John Henry Assabill this afternoon, he repeated his call for for all attendees to assist the council in the smooth transition when he stated, “I plead with our attendees to comport themselves at the gates for the smooth transition of a free entry to a paid one”.