Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation Annual Holiday Dinner Event St. Elias Church Cultural Center 8023 Memphis Ave. December 9, 2025
The Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation hosted their annual holiday dinner on Tuesday December 9, 2025. There were several performances mixed in with the speeches, dinner and auction.
The program began with MC Pierre Bejjani and then an invocation from Chaffic Bejjani.
Pierre Bejjani
Chaffic Bejjani
CCGF board chair Dr. Wael Khoury gave a year-end update on the state of the Federation.
Dr. Wael Khoury
CCGF Executive Director Tom Turkaly gave some updates and introduced the gardens in attendance as they cheered for their groups.
Tom Turkaly
Watch a video of the above speeches.
Holiday committee member Dozia Krislaty introduced the evening's entertainment - the Aya Dance Troupe who are also affiliated with Cleveland Ballet Theatre.
Dozia Krislaty
The first dance was a Kazakh Dance.
Aya Dance Troupe - Kazakh dance
The second dance was an Uzbek dance.
Aya Dance Troupe - Uzbek dance
The third dance was a Spanish Flamenco.
Aya Dance Troupe - Spanish Flamenco
The final dance shared steps and movements with dance from regions of Ukraine.
Aya Dance Troupe - Ukraine Dance
Here are some other images from the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation Holiday Dinner event.
Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation Board Members
Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation Event Committee
Vietnamese Garden delegate Gia Hoa Ryan with her winning auction prize
Italian Garden table
African American Garden table
Irish Garden table
One of the Lebanese Garden tables
Aya Dance Troupe
Sonia and Faris Alameh with poinsettia that guests were able to take home
Pierre Bejjani and Wael Khoury, MD
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