Dubai: It maybe sizzling hot in the UAE. But American expats currently in the country are not going to miss the fun of celebrating Fourth of July around the actual date, despite many of them flying home and some of them already marking the occasion here months ago.
The red letter day commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence from British rule by 13 American colonies on July 4, 1776.
“Every year, the American community in Dubai gathers to celebrate our Independence Day on the 4th of July. This year, this falls on Tuesday, and hence our celebrations will be held on the July 8, Saturday,” said Dubai resident Mark Vicente from New York.
Vicente, who was instrumental in forming the community group ‘American Expats in Dubai (AED)’, said the members of the group will gather at Publique, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, for an evening of Independence Day celebrations.
Vicente, the admin of AED who organised the event, said scores of Americans from different backgrounds are expected to attend the event.
Dan Wanies, whose family will be taking part in the celebrations, said: “For us, it is also a celebration of summer with the staples of American food where people go outside and they barbecue and watch the fireworks. Though we will miss those two highlights of the celebrations here, we are going to have a lot of American food for our feast.”
Saturday’s party will offer the gourmet options of traditional American staples, said Wanies, whose firm Carnistore is providing the catering services. “We will have our elevated versions of Wagyu Burger, Angus Hotdog, Buffalo Wings, Chili Con Carni among others…We still want that nice casual summer vibe. And the location we’ve chosen does make you feel like you’re outside as the whole of Madinat Jumeirah can be seen around.”
Karaoke singing of traditional American freedom songs and picture opportunities with American decorations will also be part of the celebrations.
Multiple celebrations
For Dubai mum Frances Ames, who is into asset management, the coming days will see her celebrating July 4 for the third and fourth times in the year.
“We go all out with American stuff for the International Day celebration at our kids’ school in January. That’s the most American we get in Dubai,” she said, chuckling.
Her second celebration was more official. She was among hundreds of US expats, diplomats and friends of the US from various countries who came together to celebrate the American Independence Day months ahead of Fourth of July in February.
The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the US Consulate in Dubai celebrated the Independence Day in advance considering the summer weather in July when tens of thousands of American expats are away on vacation.
Since their children’s school is not yet closed for vacation, Ames and her husband Chad Quisenberry will be celebrating the actual day on Tuesday at home in Dubai with Frances’ sister Mary Ames who also lives here.
“This time, we are celebrating America’s birthday with our children and their friends who are partly Americans. Because several of the children have summer birthdays, we are combining a family birthday party with America’s birthday party,” said Ames.
“We eat traditional desserts like pie, cake and have traditional picnic foods: ham burgers, hot dogs, French fries, corn on the cob, cupcakes and watermelon. Our nanny May Erabon from the Philippines makes sugar cookies in US flag shape and colours specially for this occasion.”
She said the family will miss watching the parade in the US, which they had witnessed last year. “But, we are going to celebrate again back home with traditional BBQ - roast chicken, baked beans, coleslaw etc. as we are travelling to Massachusetts on July 8,” she added.
