At 11 p.m. on a Saturday night, a parking lot near Arlington’s Choctaw Stadium came to life.
The aroma of roasted coffee beans and savory, smoked halal meats filled the air as vendors in tents lining the perimeter of the space prepared for eager customers, many participating in daily fasts during Ramadan.
Chatter buzzed throughout the space as families looked through table displays filled with jewelry, clothing and perfumes.
A glowing sign, embellished with balloons on each side, welcomed guests with two words: Salam and Howdy.
The two greetings serve as a slogan for the Texas Suhoor Fest, an annual nighttime food, shopping and community event organized by Tarrant County-based husband-and-wife duo Faraz and Ambreen Ahmed. The catch phrase plays into the identity of being both Muslim and Texan, Faraz said.
“We just like to really create an environment for family, for faith and unity,” Ahmed said.
A sign reads Salam & Howdy. Salam means “peace” in Arabic and is used in the greeting, “peace be upon you.” (Marissa Greene | Fort Worth Report)
Suhoor is a meal Muslims eat before dawn to help sustain the body through the daily fast during Ramadan. The free festival is designed to bring Muslims together after night prayers — called isha and taraweeh — to eat, shop and celebrate Muslim culture in Texas.
Each year the festival visits different Texas cities such as Dallas, Austin and Houston. The festival was held in Tarrant County for the first time in its four-year history on Feb. 28.
Faraz and his wife have always been big foodies, he said. The couple started a social media account called Halal Palate that highlights Muslim-owned restaurants and mom-and-pop stores in Texas.
The driving force behind the Texas Suhoor Fest is to platform locally owned Muslim business and give “attendees a way to connect them to their community,” Faraz said.
Attendees flood into Texas Suhoor Fest on Feb. 28, 2026, in Arlington. The event hosted over a hundred vendors, selling food, drinks, clothing and jewelry. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Soon after the festival opened, lines quickly formed around the vendor booths. Mansfield resident Nancy Awad and her family stood inside their tent decorated with a glimmering crescent moon and star lights, illuminating the array of pastries and desserts offered for sale.
The festival is a time to socialize and be close to family, Awad said. Her sister attended as a vendor at a booth across from her.
“I like to meet everybody, see everybody. …They support me and everyone is doing their best,” she said.
Family and friend businesses are common at Texas Suhoor Fest. Adam Kamel, 20, and Yousad Asif, 19, had a stand called the Brisket Bros. The name is self-explanatory, Kamel said.
“We got brisket, and we got some bros,” Kamel said.
Kamel learned the craft of smoking meats from his dad three years ago. He shared this interest with Asif and another of their friends and the trio formed the business. They began selling their smoked brisket at pop-up events such as the Texas Suhoor Fest, he said.
Ramadan is an important part of being Muslim, Kamel said. The act of fasting is meant to serve as a reminder of what people facing poverty and hunger experience on a daily basis, he said.
“It’s not really about cleansing our guts or our stomachs. It’s more about cleansing our souls and staying grounded with Islam,” Kamel said.
From left, Yousaf Asil, 19, and Adam Kamel, 20, serve customers during Texas Suhoor Fest on Feb. 28, 2026, in Arlington. Kamel began smoking meats with his dad and started a business cooking with his friends as Brisket Bros. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Big Dash worker Anas Hussein pulls a piece of kanafeh during Texas Suhoor Fest on Feb. 28, 2026, in Arlington. Big Dash Ice Cream serves Middle Eastern ice cream and pastries throughout North Texas. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
On the opposite side of the parking lot from the bros were husband-and-wife Ali and Meera Hilal. They roasted coffee beans and served lattes and cups of matcha at Hilal Coffee, a Dallas-based mobile coffee cart under his tent.
The coffee business shares his last name, which also means crescent in Arabic. He started the business in homage to a fond memory of sharing a cup of coffee with his mom in the morning as a way to connect after a busy week, he said.
Similarly, the Texas Suhoor Fest and Ramadan create special times when loved ones take the opportunity to see more of each other, Hilal said.
“It’s a beautiful month in the sense that everyone’s time is now aligned,” Hilal said. “It’s a great time to reconnect with people that you just don’t get an opportunity to do throughout the rest of the year.”
Allen resident Dana Abweh, 23, drinks a vanilla latte from Hilal Coffee during Texas Suhoor Fest on Feb. 28, 2026, in Arlington. Abweh said it’s beautiful to see an event connect Muslims with their culture and religion. (Christine Vo | Fort Worth Report)
Nuahat Rayann, 18, sipped on a brown sugar latte from Hilal Coffee. Rayann came to the festival with her friend Nazifa Roca, 19.
The two typically have a 9 p.m. curfew but stayed out later during the annual festival to enjoy food from different cultures and see friends, including some who aren’t Muslim but wanted to attend.
“Suhoor fest brings a lot of cultures together,” Roca said. “I feel like that just boosts the diversity that’s already in Texas.”
Seema Siddiqui, 70, is a University of Texas at Arlington alumna who has lived in the city for over four decades.
There weren’t many restaurants or resources available to celebrate Ramadan when Siddiqui was a college student, she said. But now it’s different.
She stood in the middle of the crowd with her brother-in-law and friends and watched the thousands of people break bread, shop and connect all in one place.
“I’m very happy for the young people because they have this opportunity that we didn’t have when we came here,” Siddiqui said. “That’s wonderful.”
Marissa Greene is a Report for America corps member, covering faith for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at marissa.greene@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/03/03/thousands-celebrate-ramadan-in-arlington-through-annual-texas-suhoor-fest/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=431194&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2026/03/03/thousands-celebrate-ramadan-in-arlington-through-annual-texas-suhoor-fest/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>