The 9th annual Cleveland Asian Festival was held on the weekend of May 19 and 20 in Cleveland's AsiaTown neighborhood on Payne Avenue. It has become a not-to-miss annual event with great entertainment, food, shopping and fun.
As has become tradition, Master of Ceremonies Wayne Wong introduced the Kwan Family Lion Dance Team to kick off the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival.
Kwan Family Lion Dance team
The Kwan family has performed all 9 years of the festival. Wong explained that the oranges resemble gold and the lettuce represents cash. Here are some video highlights.
NOTE: All the images below with a white arrow in the middle are videos. (The other images are just photos) You can click on the white arrow to watch the video of whatever is described. Make sure your speakers are on and you can make the video full screen once it begins by clicking the icon in the lower right corner.
Kwan Family Lion Dance
Wayne told the crowd a little about the mission of CAF in Cleveland's AsiaTown.
Master of Ceremonies Wayne Wong
He then introduced Vi Huynh who is one of the three founders of CAF. Vi Huynh explained the rationale behind the Festival and spoke of the new Pop-up Contest to help startup local businesses.
Vi Huynh
Wayne Wong introduced Brunswick Mayor Ron Falconi who is of Filipino descent and has been a strong supporter of the Festival and the Asian and Asian Pacific communities.
Brunswick Mayor Ron Falconi
Brunswick Mayor Ron Falconi and Vi Huynh
Then Wayne introduced the all-volunteer members of the Executive Committee of the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival: Vi Huynh, Lisa Wong, Johnny Wu, Yin Tang, Deborah Yue, Michael Mendoza and himself.
Wayne Wong, Vi Huynh, Lisa Wong, Yin Tang and Mike Mendoza
The entertainment then continued as Wayne Wong introduced Channel 19 news anchor Chris Tanaka at the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival. A wide variety of Indian dance. music, instruments as well as martial arts and acrobatics were performed.
Rosa Lee on Guzheng
Chris Tanaka
Dan Hanson took a walk through the World Market Place at the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival pointing out some of the diverse shopping and services available like Thai massage, Henna tattoos, face painting and lots of fashion, jewelry and things to buy.
Dan then took a walk down Payne Avenue at the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival pointing out some of the diverse food, resources and fun including NASA Glenn, Ball Ball Waffles, the FBI, Cleveland Water and of course the Cleveland Asian Festival volunteer booth. The Cleveland Asian Festival is run completely by volunteers.
Dan took a walk through the Food Court at the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival pointing out some of the restaurants offering Chinese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Nepali and other foods.
Here are some scenes from through the Activities and Kids Pavilion at the 2018 Cleveland Asian Festival. People played chess, trivia games, made art, engraved wood, made haiku kites and more.
On Sunday, the preliminary introductions began with Master of Ceremonies Wayne Wong introducing Ward 7 Cleveland Councilman Basheer Jones.
Councilman Basheer Jones
Councilman Basheer Jones with Vi Huynh and Wayne Wong
Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell spoke next.
Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell
Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell with Lisa and Wayne Wong
Don't miss videos and photos of some of the great entertainment including:
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