More than 200 tristate area Gujaratis including presidents and office bearers of approximately 50 Gujarati associations gathered January 3, 2026 at the Umiya Dham Temple in Edison, New Jersey, for a curtain raiser for the Second United Gujarati Convention to be held in May 2026 in Orlando. The first was held in Dallas in 2024.
Organized jointly by the Federation of Gujarati Associations (FOGAUSA) and the Gujarati Society of Central Florida, the four-day convention is scheduled to be held during the Memorial Day weekend from May 22 to 25, 2026 at Hotel Renaissance in Orlando.
FOGA was formed in 2021 with an aim of uniting Gujarati associations across the U.S. to strengthen their impact.
According to the organizing committee, the Orlando Convention is designed to offer food, fun events, networking opportunities, a business summit and expo, Gujarati matrimonial networking, leadership forums, youth and women empowerment sessions, cultural shows and discounted theme park packages.
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The convention aims to bring together Gujarati leaders, families, professionals, entrepreneurs, youth and cultural ambassadors from across the U.S. according to the official flyer. Other attractive events will include Gujju Shark Tank, Fashion Show, Garba, Stand-up Comedy, motivational speeches and Gujarati Jalso (concert).
Speaking to ITV Gold, FOGA founder, and President of Gujarati Samaj NY and Vice Chairman of the first Haveli (Vaishnav Temple) in North America, Harshad Patel, said FOGA’s first efforts to bring Gujarati organizations under one umbrella, began with New York, after which the effort expanded in 1917. He and his team accomplished this task by going to more than 35 states and holding personal meetings with heads of more than 80 local associations. “We explained that we can do the impossible when we are all united,” Harshad Patel said. That became the foundational goal of FOGA. “FOGA has been designed with the purpose to unite, to network, to explore business opportunities with each other, to ease matrimonial alliances, to help Gujaratis relocating to a new state settle in, and to have cultural exchange,” Patel said.
Padma Shri recipient and Chair of Parikh Worldwide Media and ITV Gold, Dr. Sudhir Parikh, congratulated the FOGA team for putting together the convention which, he said, was the only way to unite all Gujaratis in the US. He offered the help of his media outlets in this endeavor.
Dr. Parikh drew a parallel between FOGA and the Indian American Forum for Political Education of which he had been President, which helped 2nd generation Indian Americans get into politics and policymaking, contributing to more of them pursuing political careers and occupying important positions nationwide.
“We highly value the presence and participation of the New Jersey Gujarati community, whose leadership and engagement will greatly enrich this national gathering,” FOGA organizers of the Jan. 3, 2026 curtain raiser at Umiya Dham said. Jayesh Patel, convention chairperson for FOGA and chair person for the Gujarati Samaj, Orlando, invited all to attend the convention in Orlando.
PHOTO: Courtesy FOGAUSA
Daxesh Sheth, convener of FOGA NJ Chapter, said the convention in Orlando is an attempt to keep the “Gujarati heartbeat” alive in the U.S. He thanked everyone for such a hearty response to the curtain raiser.