A congratulatory certificate to the Bulgarian community in Northern California will be presented by the mayor of the city of Sunnyvale, Larry Klein. He will be a special guest at the celebration organized by Khan Asparuh School in San Francisco Bay.

"We are very proud to announce that the Mayor of Sunnyvale, the city where the first branch of the Bulgarian School Kan Asparuh, San Francisco Bay, California, is attending the celebration at the school for the national holiday of Bulgaria, March 3rd. His presence is initiated by the Consulate General of Bulgaria in Los Angeles. Special thanks to Consul General Boyko Hristov for his support." - the school wrote. The celebration starts at 11:30 a.m. local time.

The Bulgarians in Las Vegas will celebrate the National Day with ... sports. A football competition for the cup "146 Years of Free Bulgaria" will be a highlight of the festive program. Rostislav Petkov, world champion in men's power-lifting, will present the cup to the winning team. The sporting event will be preceded by a prayer for the health of the Bulgarian people. Children from the theater workshop "Dwarves in Drawers" and students from "Vasil Levski" school in Las Vegas will be guests at the celebration. The festive ceremony will end with the participation of the talented Bulgarian pop-folk singer Maya Delcheva, Maria Samichkova, spokesperson of the Bulgarian Society of Nevada, USA, told Radio Bulgaria. An invitation to the holiday is addressed to all compatriots, "to the Serbian brothers", as well as to "all who respect the National Day of Bulgaria".

For a third year in a row, the Bulgarian community in Los Angeles will gather on March 3 in the park space in front of the City Hall in Los Angeles, as the building will be lit up in the colors of the Bulgarian flag. The team of the Consulate, the children and teachers from the Bulgarian school "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" in Los Angeles and dancers from the Los Angeles’ only Bulgarian folk dance ensemble "XoroTroptzi" will await our compatriots for the lighting of the lights at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Each year, the initiative expands to new cities and states along the West Coast, as the Consulate General aims both to delight more compatriots in the United States on the holiday, and to highlight the strong bonds of friendship, partnership and cooperation that bind the peoples of both countries, Consul General Boyko Hristov said about the event.

• Bulgarian community in Los Angeles receives new recognition from the LA City Council

The Morrison Bridge in Portland, Oregon, will be illuminated in the Bulgarian colors. For the second year in a row, the municipal building in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, as well as the Ferris wheel in the city of Seattle, will be illuminated too, as the initiative was joined by the Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle. "We expect other American cities to join the initiative of the Consulate General in Los Angeles for celebrating Bulgaria's National Day," Boyko Hristov adds.

See also:

• Chicago's tallest building to light up again in the colours of the Bulgarian flag

Compiled by: Elena Karkalanova

Publication in English: Al. Markov

Photos: Consulate General of Bulgaria in Los Angeles