About this event
Festa e Flamurit is the Albanian flag and independence day, marking November 28, 1912, when Ismail Qemali raised the flag in Vlorë. The Albanian American Islamic Center in Garfield hosts one of the largest community gatherings in northern New Jersey on that night, and 2026 falls on Saturday, November 28. The Center confirms the basics: free to attend, evening program, dinner format, with the run of show posted to xhami.org and AAIC's social channels closer to the date.
The Essentials
- Date: Saturday, November 28, 2026 — Festa e Flamurit
- Time: Evening program. AAIC has not yet posted the exact start time for 2026; check xhami.org and the Center's social channels in the days before the event for the clock time and the run of show.
- Place: Albanian American Islamic Center (AAIC), 43 Monroe Street, Garfield, NJ 07026. Phone the Center directly through xhami.org for any specific questions.
- Cost: Free to attend. A community flag-day dinner like this runs on donations and a sponsored meal — bring cash if you want to give toward the food and the hall. Nobody is turned away over a donation.
- Weather: Late November in northern New Jersey is cold, often in the 30s or low 40s after dark, sometimes wet. The program is indoors, but you will be walking from your car or the street in coats, scarves, and proper shoes.
Getting There
Garfield sits in Bergen County, just over the Passaic River from Passaic and a short hop from Routes 21, 46, and the Garden State Parkway. Monroe Street runs through a dense residential grid of two- and three-family homes, which means most people arrive by car and park on the street near the Center.
AAIC has not published specific parking instructions for this event. There is no confirmed dedicated lot for Festa e Flamurit, and street parking in Garfield is typical small-city stock: legal on most blocks, tight on a holiday night when several hundred families show up at once. Plan to arrive a little early, be ready to walk a block or two, and read the signs on each block carefully — Garfield does ticket for street-cleaning and permit-zone violations, and the rules do not pause for the holiday.
If you do not drive, NJ Transit bus service runs through Garfield and the surrounding towns, and the Plauderville and Garfield stations on the Bergen County Line sit within the borough. The dossier does not confirm a specific bus or rail route as the official transit option for this event, and AAIC has not published transit directions. If you are coming from New York City or farther out in Bergen or Passaic counties without a car, plan your route on the NJ Transit trip planner the day before and budget for a rideshare for the last stretch to 43 Monroe Street — Garfield's transit grid does not deposit you at the door.
The local gotcha: Monroe Street and the blocks around it are narrow and lined with parked cars year-round. On a holiday evening, do not double-park to drop family off, and do not block driveways even for a minute. Neighbors call it in, and the Garfield police respond.
What to Expect
The evening is a community program in the AAIC hall — not a stage concert, not a banquet hall gala. The Center confirms there will be speakers, performers, and an organized dinner format, with the specific run of show posted on xhami.org closer to the date. Expect a structure that flag-day nights at Albanian community centers tend to share: greetings from the imam and Center leadership, remarks marking November 28, 1912, the flag itself displayed prominently, songs and recitations from children and youth, and a sit-down meal served to the room.
Families arrive together. Grandparents come with grandchildren. People dress up — suits and ties are common, women often in dresses, kids in their best. The mood is warm and proud rather than formal; you will hear Albanian spoken in the Gheg of Kosovo, the Tosk of southern Albania, and the dialects of Macedonia and Montenegro, alongside English from the second and third generation.
Specific performers and ensembles for 2026 have not been announced as of this writing. AAIC publishes those details on its own channels as the date nears, so confirm there rather than assume last year's lineup.
The Food and Donation
A dinner is served — that much is confirmed. The Center describes the night as a sponsored community meal supported by donations, with no admission ticket. What is not confirmed in any published source is the specific menu for 2026, so this page will not name particular Albanian dishes for this event. Flag-day dinners at Albanian community centers commonly include traditional dishes, but the exact spread at AAIC depends on the sponsoring families and what the kitchen prepares that year.
If the menu matters to you — for dietary reasons, for kids who are picky, or because you are coming specifically for the food — call AAIC through xhami.org or ask at the door when you arrive. Bring cash for the donation basket. Twenty dollars per adult is a reasonable starting point if you are able; families give more, students and elders give less or nothing, and the Center is clear that no one is turned away.
Garfield's Albanian Community and Why It Matters
Garfield and the surrounding Bergen and Passaic county towns hold one of the densest Albanian populations in the United States. The Albanian American Islamic Center has served the Albanian-Muslim community of NY and NJ for decades, drawing families from Garfield, Paterson, Clifton, Wayne, Lodi, Hackensack, and across the river.
Here is the part that matters for the count. The U.S. Census records roughly 224,000 Albanian Americans nationwide. The real community is close to a million — somewhere near 1,000,000 people of Albanian heritage living in this country, when you include Kosovars, Macedonian Albanians, Montenegrin Albanians, Çam families, and the second and third generations who often check a different box or skip the ancestry question entirely. The gap between 224,000 and roughly a million is not a small rounding error. It is most of us.
The Census stays essential — it drives federal funding, redistricting, and civil rights enforcement, and Albanian Americans should keep answering it. The National Albanian Registry is the parallel count beside it: a community-run head count so that the number reflects who is actually here. Registering takes about two minutes and is free. NAR is a 501(c)(3) (filed; IRS confirmation pending), it is not a government ID, and it has nothing to do with citizenship status.
Nights like Festa e Flamurit at AAIC are where the uncounted community becomes visible in one room. A hall full of families on November 28 is the community making itself legible to itself. The registry is how that visibility carries past the night.
What to Bring
- Cash for the donation basket — small and large bills both welcome
- Warm coats, scarves, and proper shoes for late-November walking from the car
- Modest dress appropriate to a mosque community center (shoulders and knees covered; women may want a light scarf)
- Children, grandparents, cousins — this is a family night
- Patience for parking and a willingness to walk a block or two
- Your phone, charged, to confirm the start time from xhami.org on the day of
