Winds carried the smell of roasting goat and the sound of Albanian music and language through Kilroy Square while the national colors of black and red flashed on banners, flags, clothing, balloon hats and infant onesies Sunday.
Hundreds gathered in downtown Quincy for the city’s first Greater Boston Albanian Festival hosted by local restaurateur Leo Keka and the St. George Albanian Orthodox Cathedral of South Boston.
Keka, who escaped from Albania in 1990 when the country was still under communist rule, said he hoped to bring together his community to talk about the old days, celebrate culture and give kids a day to remember and a chance to show pride in their identity.
“For some it’s a reunion,” Keka, the owner of Alba restaurants in Quincy and Hanover, said. “People have busy lives. Today, they can get together to enjoy their music, food and each other.”
With about 22,000 residents of Albanian descent, Massachusetts boasts the third-largest ethnic Albanian community in the country, census data shows. More than 1,200 Quincy residents are of Albanian descent.
Bob Tochka, a former Superior Court judge and co-organizer of the festival, said Keka stepped up to fill a void.
“He’s the leader of the community everyone’s been waiting for,” Tochka said.
Tochka is of a generation that came to the United States before World War II and the long freeze in U.S.-Albanian relations. He said he was struck by the sight of children at the festival speaking Albanian as their native tongue.
“We never heard that before (in the 1990s). It’s heartwarming,” Tochka said.
As the festival started, revelers crowded under tented pavilions to cheer on the children’s Valle Tona Dance Group as they performed folk dances in traditional Albanian dress, with richly embroidered skirts, vests and caps with ornate pendants.
Violinists Rina Sojili and Rozita Fishta performed a mix of folk and rock numbers. The classically trained musicians sampled traditional music from the different regions of Albania before electrifying the audience with Bon Jovi and AC/DC.
The event culminated with the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to the Rev. Arthur E. Liolin, of St. George Cathedral, for his more than 50 years of service to the Orthodox Albanian community. Fellow clergymen joined the Rev. Liolin onstage as he was given his award.
