25,000 Expected for Persian New Year’s Party

More than 25,000 people are expected to attend Persian New Year’s festivities at Mason Regional Park on Sunday.

Jashnsizdah Bedar, as Sunday’s event is called, traditionally highlights the 13th day of the Persian New Year, which began March 21, said Dr. Farrokh Shadab, president of the Iranian Cultural Affairs Center in Orange County and a Fountain Valley pediatrician. The celebration falls on Monday but is being observed Sunday.

“This is not a political thing or anything like that,” Shadab said. “This is part of our culture and the traditional way we celebrate our new year. It’s family oriented, with lots of food, music and dancing.”

The event, which is more than 3,000 years old and predates Islam, is expected to attract Iranians from throughout Southern California. Shadab and other community leaders estimate Orange County’s Iranian population at 70,000 to 80,000 people.

In addition to the Iranian Cultural Affairs Center, sponsors include Maraemsonati, a civic organization, and a group of Iranian engineers and businessmen.

The celebration, free and open to the public, will begin at 11 a.m., with lunch at 1 p.m. and cultural events until 6 p.m., Shadab said.

“This is the way we help preserve the Iranian culture and its history and language,” Shadab said.

“In the Iranian culture, we are expected to attend parties every day for 12 days after the New Year. Then on the 13th day, we’re supposed to go out of town on a mass exodus for a mass picnic.”

Traditional Iranian dishes will include abgusht, a thick meat-and-bean soup, dolmeh, vegetables stuffed with meat and rice, and chelokabab, lamb roasted on a skewer.

The celebration, which has been held at William R. Mason Regional Park for the last five years, first attracted just 1,000 celebrators. Since then, it has become one of the largest single-day festivities for Iranians in Southern California.

Last year, nearly 25,000 people attended the event, causing traffic and parking problems. Police said the event was peaceful and orderly, although the crowd created headaches for park personnel and area residents.

“The place was packed,” Irvine Police Lt. Michael White said.

But other than congestion and a “few traffic accidents,” he said there were only limited problems.

To ease the congestion this year, parking restrictions have been waived for University Drive and Harvard Avenue, which border the corner of the park where the events will take place. In addition, Shadab’s community group has made arrangements to use UC Irvine’s parking lots and will operate at least three shuttles.