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In downtown Sunnyvale, April 20 is promising to be one of the spiciest dates of the year. Murphy Avenue will be closed to automobile traffic and opened up to red-hot Thai cuisine, traditional music and dancing, Thai arts and crafts , and lessons in cooking some spicy recipes from Thailand.
The Thai Food Festival '97 will take place between 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to celebrate "Songkran," the Thai celebration of New Year's, which traditionally takes place from April 12 to 14.
"April has been a significant month for Thai traditional heritage for hundreds of years," said Jua Rattanaphun, organizer of the event. "Everyone is invited to enjoy the hospitality of the Thai people, who appreciate their opportunities to contribute to American society."
The event will culminate in the Miss Songkran Beauty Contest. Bay Area Thai restaurants will be on hand to showcase their menus.
One purpose of the event is to promote Thai culture in California, which nearly 300,000 Thais call home. Organizers are promoting the event all over the Bay Area and, hope as many as 10,000 will attend.
Representatives from the Tourism Authority of Thailand will be available to share information on visiting the country. Thai Airways, Thai Basil restaurant and The Palace will hold a drawing, giving away a grand prize of two round-trip tickets to Thailand and five nights in Bangkok. Second prize is dinner for four at Thai Basil (located at the end of Murphy Avenue), and third prize is a $100 gift certificate from The Palace in Sunnyvale.
Thai Food Festival '97 is the third such event held since 1992, but organizers are billing this year's festival as the first annual event to be held in the South Bay.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 9, 1997.
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