Bulgarians in Nevada – 25 years of traditions and community in Las Vegas

The Bulgarian-American Association of Nevada is celebrating a quarter century since its establishment. The anniversary will be celebrated during the fifth Annual Bulgarian Festival 2026 in Las Vegas, celebrating Bulgarian culture, arts and traditions, which will attract Bulgarians from the city on May 17, but also many guests from different states, to present music, dances and traditions from Bulgaria. The program will feature folklore group "Zharava", newly created group "Horo bez granitsi", as well as dozens of representatives of the Bulgarian community in the city.

One of the first members of the organization, Nikolay Kalchev, remembers the beginning in the late 1990s, when more and more Bulgarians began to arrive in Las Vegas.

"I've been in Vegas since 1998 and then many Bulgarians started coming," he tells Radio Bulgaria's Maria Samichkova. "Green cards allowed many compatriots to come to America. Las Vegas at that time started to grow and from a small tourist town it turned into something grandiose. The city needed people from all over the world to work here. A lot of Bulgarians arrived, but we didn't have our own organization. We talked about creating a church, a club, but everything was very complicated and that's why it was necessary to create such an association. Krasimir Teofilov and Ramona Dimcheva, who had small businesses and were ambitious Bulgarians decided to bring us together - in 2000 they held a nice gathering. Many Bulgarians came and that's how the initiative was born."

The idea was finally formed after a concert by beloved singer Georgi Hristov, organized with the help of another star of the Bulgarian pop scene – Kichka Bodurova, who at that time was living in Las Vegas. In 2001, the association was officially registered. Many more compatriots joined the initiative:

"One of them was Eng. Iliya Bezhanski, a famous architect, as well as singer Kichka Bodurova and late Dr. Ivan Karabashev. These people lent a hand and provided funds to create this association. Then the idea arose to create a Bulgarian church, but this is still beyond our reach. However, we managed to implement other ideas. One of them was the creation of a Bulgarian school and in 2007-2008 Vasil Levski School was opened - this is the oldest Bulgarian school in our region."

Today, this oldest school is not working. It has been closed for a year, but Bulgarian children in Las Vegas are learning to read and write in Cyrillic in two other Sunday schools. The association continues to organize festivals, concerts and gatherings. It is impossible to mention all the active Bulgarians who have been part of the path and development of the Bulgarian-American Association in Nevada. But we cannot fail to note the role in uniting the community played by Rumen Stefanov and his Bulgarian restaurant, which over the years has become a meeting place for our compatriots.

Nikolay Kalchev says that the cultural life of Bulgarians in Vegas is gradually expanding with concerts by famous Bulgarian performers and folklore groups.

"Marin Petrov – a Bulgarian with a big heart and a dancer, was the man who gathered amateurs and created the first dance formation,“ Nikolay Kalchev says. His wife has also been part of the dance formation since its creation. „Then the girls decided to call it Zharava and that's the name to this day. The group includes people from different generations, but they all dance with great desire. This formation is part of our culture and what we are trying to preserve here, far away from Bulgaria."

Bulgarians in Las Vegas are constantly enriching their cultural life and never stop dreaming. One of their dreams is to have their own permanent place for meetings and events:

"I dream of having a Bulgarian chapel and a Bulgarian cultural club. To have a place where we can gather for Christmas, for holidays, for concerts and meetings. I wish the Bulgarian community in Vegas would become bigger and more united. This is the meaning of the association – to keep the Bulgarian spirit alive, no matter how far we are from the homeland," Nikolay Kalchev, one of its first members, says.

Interview: Maria Samichkova

Text: Elena Karkalanova