2023 DATE – May 20-21, 2023
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I first attended the Cleveland Asian Festival in 2011, which you can read about HERE.
This post documents my experience on May 22, 2016.
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During this year of the monkey, I returned to Cleveland’s Asia Plaza…
…to celebrate the Cleveland Asian Festival.
The World Market Place was set up in a side parking lot…
…and down Payne Ave…
…where vendors sold merchandise that included Asian clothing and accessories to coin jewelry…
…and organizations or businesses informed festival goers about exchange programs (YFU)…
…religion (Buddhism in Action/Asian Catholic Ministry)…
…Meetup groups…
…and even Kung Fu.
Those who needed a break from shopping could visit two different stages…
…for some great entertainment…
…try their face in some painting or photography…
…play games that included Chess and Go…
…or get a health screening inside Asia Plaza.
But, honestly, my biggest draw was the food court (equipped with a side lot for food trucks)…
…where available cuisines included Japanese (Otani/ Koko Bakery)…
…Chinese (Li Wah)…
…Vietnamese (Saigon)…
…and Korean (Miega/Seoul Garden).
After circling around with all the choices and various line lengths, I happily devoured a sticky rice dumpling…
…and some Pad Thai accented with Sriracha.
My son, instead, was all about this cake pop from Cody’s Sugar Shop.
Year of the Monkey, indeed.