To boost attendance for this year's Guava Rugelach Festival, organizers added new performers and music sessions to take the stage on the campus of the historic Temple Israel of Greater Miami. The festival, which started as a way to celebrate and showcase Jewish culture and music six years ago, debuted a new work by Galeet Dardashti, an artist based outside of South Florida. "It was so exciting to present a world premiere at Guava Rugelach this year," said Jenni Person, director of Next@19th, the company that produced the event. "The performance of 'Monajat' by Iranian-descended Sephardic artist Galeet Dardashti was an extraordinary centerpiece for our festival."
More than 450 locals came out September 3 and 4 to listen to tropical Jewish sounds performed by artists like the Klezmer Company Orchestra, Harmonic Motion, and Yariv Ovadia, along with Dardashti. The festival engaged not only adults with sound, but children too. Artists joined together during Sunday's Guava Jam event, performing vibrant Middle Eastern Sephardic music and reading stories about Jewish experiences and identity with live orchestra music and video projects of book illustrations.
Almost all food and beverage items included guava-like guava rugelach cocktails made with sponsor L'chaim's kosher vodka and fresh guava juice, topped with rugelach crumbs, and guava rugelach pastries from Protano's Bakery. Food trucks also provided meals including chef Ze Carlos Jimenez's MexZican Gourmet truck.
