Hundreds of Town residents celebrated the growing diversity and culture in the town at the 7th Annual Asian-American Festival at North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington on Saturday.
The festival showcased food and traditional entertainment from Asian countries including China, India, Japan, Pakistan and Korea.
Included were an array of stage performances as well as various cultural activities.
Bosworth said the festival begun in 2010 in response to the growing Asian-American population in North Hempstead. The event also coincides with Asian Heritage Month.
“It became clear that we wanted to do something to bring all the communities together to be able to celebrate the beauty of the Asian culture,” Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth said.
“It’s just a lot of fun for the whole family and it represents the growing diversity in North Hempstead,” she said. “It really is like visiting Asia for one day.”
The performances included Mongolian Folk Dance, Korean Pop Music, Buyo/Japanese Traditional Dance, The PACOLI Family playing traditional instruments and Rajasthan Dance. Singers performed Korean and American pop music after the more austere Japanese harpists.
“The event is a really wonderful team effort we have residents from China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Korea that work really hard all year and they really make sure that all the cultures are represented,” Bosworth said. “That’s what makes our town so interesting and vibrant and it really makes North Hempstead one of the best places to live.”
