July 3rd to 5th of 2008 turned out to be very special for Telugu people living in the United States and those who came all the way from India and other countries - since these were the days during which American Telugu Associaton (ATA) has organized its 10th ATA Conference and Youth Convention in the grand Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey. The convention set a new record by drawing"about 14,000 Telugus" and the participants were thrilled by seeing such a huge gathering during this long weekend. Those who have witnessed all the activities and programs during these three days expressed their amazement and wondered about how long it took to put on such a great display of our cultural extravaganza. Well, as they say, "Rome was not built in a day!" and this holds good for this mega event too! Hundreds of volunteers and convention committee members worked with ATA leadership and standing committees for the last 18 months to make this happen and the result is the greatest display of our Telugu culture. Following is a brief account with emphasis on some of the highlights of this memorable convention.

When the doors to the cultural treasure opened...

The doors of the Verizon tower of Prudential Center were opened at noon on July 3rd and the guests started walking in to be treated by several Registration booths named after prominent Telugu personalities from the past. While the pre-registrants could go to the booths based on their last names, others could go to designated booths for spot registration. The registration bags and packages were pre-assembled and were handed over to the registrants along with the convention badges that served as the entry tickets for the conference events. The conference website provided a listing of several hotels that offered discounted pricing for the participants and the organizers also arranged shuttle buses to these hotels for participant pick up and drop off during these three days. It was a pleasant and thrilling experience to see the guests coming in large numbers with many wearing traditional dresses - it was a feeling of being in our Motherland!