The 11th annual Knoxville Asian Festival, hosted by the Asian Culture Center of Tennessee, will be held in the World’s Fair Park from Sept. 7-9.
Over a dozen countries will be represented through food, craft and performance with the headlining entertainment performed by Ashura, a group of ninjas from Japan. The park will be filled with 250 vendors making this festival the largest event hosted by ACCT.
Along with the food and entertainment vendors, there will be around a couple-dozen tents from the companies that sponsor the festival for people to network with locals who care about the cause.
Kumi Alderman, director of ACCT, became very educated about her culture through her job as a tour guide. Through her traveling, she decided she wanted to create a different style of education, the Knoxville Asian Fest.
“I really believe food makes people change,” Alderman said.
The first festival started with 10 tents and has now expanded to what it is today. The previous festival totaled 75,000 attendees. Alderman explained what they are preparing for this year.
“We are not looking to go bigger and bigger,” Alderman said. “The number might go down, but we are OK with it. Our goal is to provide a more quality experience.”
David Matthews, a professor at the UTK College of Architecture and Design, along with students, fabricated a green tea house over 14 weeks last fall semester where a ceremony will be held.
A green tea ceremony is also known as “Urasenke.” Originating from China, it was originally used as a medicine or to keep the monks awake. The purpose of the ceremony is to feel the power of nature.
A traditional green tea ceremony can last up to four hours. For the festival, the ceremony will be condensed to 15 minutes.
“This tea ceremony is a medication and it makes you content,” said Alderman.
This year, there is a $3 entree fee for adults over 12. This is the first time a fee will be mandatory for an entry. The ACCT has decided to charge adults a small fee in hopes of expanding their organization and finding a permanent home to educate East Tennessee residents about their culture.
Aurora Silavong, director assistant of the ACCT, talked about what an expansion could do for their organization.
“For the past 11 years, we’ve run basically on hopes, dreams and love,” Silavong said. “Our key to sustainable growth right now is to do as much fundraising as we can through these ticket sales and try to expand past just having the Asian festival as our main source of programming.”
While the festival is the biggest event hosted by ACCT, the organization holds events all year round, in part through the Japanese Outreach Program.
“One of our biggest outreach events this past summer was Kid A’ Riffic Fun in the Park which was a series of events held at a different park every week throughout the summer,” Silavong said. “I was just surprised at how eager to learn toddlers are.”
With the organization being almost fully volunteer-based, the support they are given is truly inspiring.
On Sept. 7, a VIP event will be held from 6-9 p.m. with a ticket cost of $25. The VIP event will allow you to watch the performances by Ashura as well as a Japanese Drum Show coming from Disney World and a traditional Indian dance. VIP tickets will grant you all-day access to the festival on Sept. 8 where these performances will be showcased, and the opportunity to educate and try new things will be available to you.
