Trending
People who want to get a taste of Kosovo during an upcoming special dinner have three ways to buy tickets in advance of the Thursday evening event.
They can be purchased online at www.eventbrite.com/e/taste-of-kosovo-tickets-634854305317.
Tickets are also available at Hy-Vee, 115 S. 29th St.
Additionally, Youth Exchange students will be selling tickets at the Blanden Art Festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at the Blanden Memorial Art Museum, 920 Third Ave. S.
Tickets cost $25 in advance and $30 at the door.
The Taste of Kosovo will be held Thursday at Fort Frenzy, 3232 First Ave. S. It will begin at 6 p.m.
Jeff Fosbender and Alex Trevino will perform live music during the dinner.
There will be a silent auction for art and what organizers are calling "experiences."
In 2016, Fort Dodge entered into a sister city relationship with Gjakova, a community in the Balkan nation of Kosovo. Since then there have been multiple exchanges in which people from the two communities, especially teenagers, have visited each other's country.
The Taste of Kosovo, featuring dishes from that country, was established as a fundraiser to help pay for the youth exchanges.
The connection between Iowa and Kosovo started with the Iowa National Guard. Soldiers from the Iowa Army National Guard were sent to Kosovo as peacekeepers in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 as the country separated from the former Yugoslavia. Maj. Gen. Tim Orr, a now retired adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard, sought to expand the relationship between Iowa and Kosovo beyond military matters.
As a result, in 2013, Iowa and Kosovo became sister states.
Three years later the connection between Fort Dodge and Gjakova was established.
If You Go
What: Taste of Kosovo dinner
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Where: Fort Frenzy, 3232 First Ave. S.
Tickets: Available online, at Hy-Vee and at the Blanden Arts Festival