City's Asian Fest presents diversity at Farmers' Market

Saturday's Asian Fest at Showers Common brought Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month to a close in fine style despite the gray skies and drizzling rain.\nA collaboration between the City of Bloomington, IU's Asian Culture Center and the city's Community Farmers' Market, Asian Fest offered musical and dance performances, cooking demonstrations and educational and craft activities.\nMelanie Castillo-Cullather, director of the Asian Culture Center, coordinated activities during the event and judged it a success.\n"The goal of Asian Fest is to celebrate the diversity within the Asian and Pacific American community," she said. "Judging from the enthusiastic response of the audience who watched the outdoor performances despite the cloudy skies and intermittent showers, sat through the cooking demo, and visited the cultural tables, we're very happy with the results."\nFrom the opening Tai Chi demonstration to an exuberant finale performed by a Korean percussion group, those in attendance applauded the efforts of the performers.\n"I thought (the Pandanggo sa Ilaw, a traditional Filipino candle dance) was really cool," said IU graduate student Anna Busick. "The way they balance the candles on their heads and move around like that is neat."\nOther performances included a spirited Chinese fan dance, a Tae Kwon Do demonstration in the City Council chambers and an Indonesian dance performed by two IU students.\nJuniors Mianda Hakim and Ariane Lestari of the Indonesian Students Association performed the traditional Balinese Tari Pendet dance.\n"Tari Pendet is a welcoming dance that is performed before all other dances," Hakim said. "We were kind of nervous, but seeing all the families out there we just had fun."\nInside City Hall, Asian cooking demonstrations yielded free food for visitors.\nIU alumna and Bloomington resident Hang Nguyen stayed up until 2 a.m. that morning preparing 100 Vietnamese egg rolls for her demonstration.\nLuangthong Schoonover from the popular local Esan Thai restaurant prepared Som Tum, a Thai salad of chilies, string beans, carrots, green papaya, dried shrimp, peanuts and cherry tomatoes for \nonlookers.\nIU student Chun-Hsiung Hsia prepared Three Cup Chicken, a popular Taiwanese dish.\n"The three cups consist of sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine," he said. "This recipe is so simple that people here can easily follow it and do this for themselves."\nAlso inside were tables set up for arts and crafts. Volunteers Sharon Wailes and Sweta Gupta adorned visitors with henna tattoos. Umida Khikmatillaeva educated those interested in Eurasian crafts and Xing Zhou taught the ancient techniques of Chinese calligraphy.\nZhou, a member of the Chinese Calligraphy Association, began learning the art as a 5-year-old boy and has been teaching it for 30 years.\n"I want people to understand and learn how to appreciate this art," he said.\nAppreciation was the aim of many involved with the event. \n"I want people to leave here with a sense of appreciation for the traditions that make Bloomington a unique place to live in and an awareness of the contributions of Asian Americans in making Bloomington such a diverse place," Cullather said.\nYen-Ju Chuang, an IU graduate student attending the celebration, echoed that sentiment.\n"People that attend Asian Fest are acknowledging and celebrating the diversity in this community," she said.\nCommunity sponsors for the event included 10th Street Market and Deli, Ivy Tech Community College, Bloomingfoods, Shanti Authentic Indian Cuisine, Lennie's and the Snow Lion.