Photo by Craig M. Hicks
Locals can experience the best of Asian culture this weekend at the 21st Annual Asian Festival. This year's theme is ASIA Today.
The festivities will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 28 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 29 at Franklin Park on E. Broad St. Entrance to the Asian Festival is free of charge. In previous years, the event has attracted more than 100,000 visitors.
The festival's mission statement reads, "Asian Festival promotes the importance of cultural diversity in building a vibrant, prosperous and healthy community."
The Asian Festival offers an array of activities. Attendees can sample a wide variety of Asian foods from the Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Cambodian, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese cultures.
Those in attendance can experience the hustle and bustle of a real Asian marketplace by checking out the art work, gift items, toys, clothes, snacks and more in the Market Place.
One can also watch or take part in Asian games such as ping-pong, mahjong, takraw (similar to volleyball) and jianzi (similar to racquetball).
Children will have a chance to try their hand at calligraphy and dress up in ethnic costumes, among other activities in a special children’s area. Festival attendees are invited to this area to work together in creating a community hand-print dragon.
The Health Pavilion offers general health assessments, screenings for various diseases and nutrition and exercise demonstrations such as yoga, meditation, tai chi and Bhangra (a traditional Indian dance). Another service offered is the career fair, which will be set up during the festival employment and networking opportunities.
The schedule is packed with both modern and traditional performances in Asian art forms from local, national and international artists. All of the activities are available to experience free of admission charge.
Hannah Herner is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.