Boulder asian festival GOING STRONG AFTER 22 YEARS
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till going strong after 22 years, the Boulder Asian Pacific Alliance (BAPA) presented the Boulder Asian Festival on a beautiful summer weekend in August. The downtown festival celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander culture with arts, crafts, food and musical performances. Visitors to the Pearl Street Mall shopped at vendor booths selling items from Thai scarves to delicate glassware imported from Japan, while numerous Nepalese booths reminded everyone of its tight-knit community in Boulder. On Saturday, henna artists were so busy that they serviced customers until 10:00 p.m., five hours past the festival closing time. As they have for the past two decades, Sha-
AURORA GLOBAL FEST CELEBRATES CULTURES
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he Aurora Global Fest held its third annual event at Aurora Municipal Center on August 20. “Inside the city building and later on this afternoon, you will see a parade of flags. Those flags are representatives of the more than 130 different countries that are represented in this community called Aurora,” said Mayor of Aurora Steve Hogan. “So we claim that we are the most di-
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September 2016 | On Scene
By Brenda Pearson Photos by Cliff Grassmick
olin Hung Mei Kung Fu Association wowed the attendees with their colorful and animated lion dance followed by an equally stunning kung fu demonstration. Nepalese performers JAMkeyJAM jammed away on the sitar and tabla, blending thousands of years-old Nepali traditional & folk music in a contemporary style. Other performers such as Wendy Woo, Bohua Chinese School, Denver Taiko and Gamelan Tunas Mekar rounded out the day entertaining the crowd in the standing-room only audience tent. This year’s festival was especially notable because it honored Aya Mariagnes Medrud, one of the BAPA founders and visionary behind the festival, who passed away in April. Members of Boulder’s City Council and
verse big city in Colorado and there is no doubt, but that we are.” The festival featured vendors including Asian Pacific Development Center, Aurora Sister Cities International, New America School and Tri County Health Department. The colorful Parade of Nations welcomed Aurora residents to the stage holding their country’s flag. Each individual then said “welcome to my city” in their native language. Performances included Oromo (Ethiopian dance), Christina Yeh Dance Studio (Chinese dance) and Denver Shaolin Kung Fu. The beer garden offered four different beers with brewing techniques and flavors from around the world. All beers were globally inspired and locally made. The Aurora History Museum presented a ukulele beginners workshop, Japanese garden design at Amache and a hula show.
Human Relations Commission presented BAPA with a plaque declaring August 13, 2016 as Aya Mariagness Medrud Day. Founded in 1994, BAPA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to creating awareness and understanding of the diverse Asian and Pacific Islander cultures in order to promote our perspectives into the larger Boulder community.
Philippine American Society of Colorado performs tinikling dance.
Elected officials are welcomed by Aurora Mayor Hogan during the opening ceremony.