The Telugu community of Greater Toronto Area celebrated the festival of Ugadi with great zeal in Toronto. Over eight hundred Telugu people joined the celebrations held at Don Bosco School in Toronto organized by Telugu Cultural Association of Greater Toronto. Several Telugu families from surrounding cities Brampton, Mississauga, Scarborough, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Hamilton, Milton, Markham, Richmond hill and other areas have also joined the program that is packed with Miss & Mister Telugu Canada Beauty Pageant, music, drama, dance, comedy and many more.

The festival has begun with "Deeparadhana" and Canadian National Anthem. Telugu business entrepreneurs Sridhar and Madhavi Mundluru lit the light and Telugu Association President Uttam Akkapalli delivered the welcome address. Chairman board of trustees Mrs. Jyothi Bobbili introduced the Chief Guest and provided Ugadhi greetings. Traditional Ganapathi Prayer Song was performed by Leela Uttukuru and Group. PanchangaSravanam offered by priest Sri Somayajulu Garu.

Mega Musical Night with Non-stop entertainment with Mind Blowing, Melodious Musical Singing Performances performed by play back singers Geeta Madhuri, Sandhya, Sri Krishna, Simha, Dhiraj & Parijatha. Jitendra Mimicri and Dubbing artist entertained the audience with his unique style. Miss & Mister Telugu Canada - Beauty Pageant, organised first time in Canada stood as a highlight in the festival.

Several music and dance programs performed. Some of them are Classical dance "Devagananjali", choreographed by Dr Alakananda group. Ganesh Vandana Dance by Neha Jarabandi and Medley by Charan & Group.

Beauty Pageant" competition received outstanding response from youth in the Telugu Community, The participants are Akhila Rachakonda, Chaitra Raju, Charan Rayapureddy, Mesha Tella, Annie Tella, Vishal Bezawada, Rahul, Rohit, Rani, Vijay, and Naresh,After the very tough competition Judges announced the winners of the Beauty pageant. Akhila Rachakonda won the Miss Canada Telugu Crown and Chaitra Raju stood as the runner up.

Vijay won the Mr Canada Telugu and Charan Rayapureddy stood as the runner up. President Uttam Kumar along with the Executive committed presented the Scholoraship checks to all the winners for the TCAGT's first every Beauty Pageant.

TCAGT introduced Samyuktha Movva as surprise tollywood actress.   Samyuktha made haer debut in Srinu Vaitla's block buster movie Baadshah, and she acted as youngest sister (Pinky) to Kajal Agarwal. Her appearance and speech in Telugu attracted the TCAGT audience.

Chief Guest of our event Honorable Dipika Damerla Garu, Member of Provincial Parliament -Mississauga East Cooksville addressed the gathering, and presented the Appreciation award to the Telugu Association for their outstanding service to Toronto Telugu Community.

Toronto Telugu Cultural Association presented presented a surprise award to Shankara Sankara Rao Adibhatla and Tata Jaya as first registrants of the event through on-line TCAGT Portal.

Anil Lingamaneni, TANA Regional Representative for Canada, Ramkrishna, Kesava Rao Yalamanchili were attended as special invitees.

Telugu Bharathi provided excellent support in the success of the TCAGT Ugadhi event.

TCAGT launched their newly developed website www.telugutoronto.com. The website is built with the latest social media and graphical technologies, equipped with on-line payment process, provided more visibility to sponsors, preserved the cultural archives of TCAGT, and many more options provided to serve all the ages of Telugu community in Canada.

Also TCAGT launched matrimonial services through their new website to help Telugu singles worldwide to enable them to choose their dream partner.

Secretary Surya Bezawada coordinated the team very successfully in organized this amazing and historical TCAGT Ugadhi event. Explained that the response received is huge from Life members, sponsors, annual members and many first time attendees.

Executive Members and trustees of the association Ewa, Anitha Bezawada, Rajasekhar Jarabandi, Himabindu, Sirisha Varanasi, Srinivasa Rao Gadepalli, Sailaja, Jagan Payidiparty, Ramarao, Sailaja Vutukuru, Jyoti, Vijay Rao Bobbili, Rao Vajha, Lakshmi Vajha, Koti and Hema Avvari were actively participated in the celebrations.

The celebrations were sponsored by Derek, Cricket ontario Association, Dentist Dr. Neena Desouza, Harborn Dental, Realtor Rao Vajha, , Century21, Vonage, Ashutosh Chawla, RBC insurance, Muralilal Thapiliyal, Law Firm, and Zirvi Law firm.

Poonam and Anusha were participated as masters of the ceremonies. ATN, OMNI, Rogers, TV9, HMTV acted as our Media Sponsors.

Delicious traditional festive dinner was freshly cooked and served by the committee members. Volunteer certificates distributed to the volunteers. Secretary Surya Bezawada provided the vote of thanks and the event ended with Indian National Anthem.

For further details visit our website www.telugutoronto.com.