Members of the Muslim community in North Valley, Santa Clarita, California gathered on Sunday to celebrate the 15th annual Muslim Family Fun Day, enjoying games, food, and outdoor activities.
“We cherish the relationship between our Muslim community, the City of Palmdale and the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station,” American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley President Kamal Al-Khatib said, Antelope Valley Press reported.
“This year was very special because we were joined by Lancaster and Santa Clarita Muslims, too.”
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Around 450 members of the community attended the event, enjoying food and games.
The annual event was sponsored by the American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley in partnership with Islamic Center of North Valley in Lancaster and Al-Umma Center of Santa Clarita
Muslim leaders also presented special awards to Palmdale Mayor Pro Tem Laura Bettencourt, Councilman Juan Carrillo and City Manager J.J. Murphy, for their support to the Muslim community. Murphy also accepted an award on behalf of Councilman Austin Bishop.
“This kind of event shows that Palmdale welcomes everybody,” Carrillo said.
“We are a very diverse community. We are proud to have you as part of our community and we just want to wish you all success, we are here to partner with you.”
Pew Research Center estimates that there were about 3.45 million Muslims of all ages living in the US in 2017, and that Muslims made up about 1.1 percent of the total US population.
California is the most populated US state, with an estimated population of 39.512 million as of July 1, 2019.
California also has the largest Muslim community in the United States, an estimated one percent of the population, mostly residing in Southern California. Approximately 100,000 Muslims reside in San Diego.