Taiwanese Association of America in Minnesota in the 2006 Festival of Nations.

by Raymond Lu 呂瑞文

The Festival of Nations in Minnesota is a multi-cultural event that celebrates the richness of the diverse cultures in this country. There were 97 different ethnic groups participating in the 2006 Festival of Nations, which was held from May 4 to May 7. Taiwanese Association of America in Minnesota (TAAMN) was honored to join with so many different ethnic groups from around the world to present their own ethnic foods, crafts and traditions to an estimated 80,000 people. As usual, TAAMN was involved in all the major areas, including culture exhibits, folk dancing, ethnic food, and crafts. Each area was coordinated by one of TAAMN foundation committee members.

Culture Exhibits

The Culture Exhibits team consisted of a dozen talented members. With the theme of Ethnic Markets in mind, the team decided to design a scene of a typical night market in Taiwan. After many meetings and discussion, they turned their idea into a really impressive product – a huge painting of a night market as the background of the display booth, along with multi-layers of real merchants to match the painted background. Our booth attracted many visitors. This presentation won the Award of Excellence in Cultural Exhibits.

Dough Art

The Culture Exhibits team also came up with the idea of showing the traditional dough art. Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Chicago was very supportive and helpful. They located David Lee in New Jersey. And David was very happy to accept our invitation. We talked to the Festival of Nations chairperson, Michellene Raymond, about the dough art before the event. Michellene was very excited about it and she arranged a booth at the demonstration area for us to present this special art. David Lee, the dough artist, attracted more audience than we expected. He made all kinds of dough figures. His show table was always surrounded by a dozen people. People were amazed by David’s talent. Lucky visitors received dough figures as free gifts from David and TAAMN.

Folk Dancing

Many people are getting too busy to commit their time to special events. Luckily we were able to gather 18 people to join the folk-dancing team. Our dance is about a harvest celebration of the A-Mei tribe in Taiwan. After numerous practices, the team made two beautiful performances during the event. The audience could feel the energy and happiness of the dancers in this harvest celebration.

Bazaar

Bazaar in this event offers ethnic crafts and souvenirs. Partly based on the previous records, our Bazaar coordinator prepared many fun sales items for the customers to choose and buy. Our volunteer salesmen and saleswomen were able to practice their selling skill and brought some revenue to the organization.

Café

The Café area is the place for ethnic food. There were 35 food booths all together this year. Traditionally the Taiwanese Café sells deep-fried chicken wings, deep-fried egg rolls, deep-fried cheese puffs, and fried rice. We even have a special recipe for chicken wings. This year we added a couple new items to the menu. As usual, our food items were able to catch a lot of attention. Our volunteers were busy taking care of the customers in the front booth as well as preparing food in the kitchen.

Conclusion

In order to take care of our four booths, TAAMN mobilized its members and friends to fill up the 160 time slots. Each slot was about four to five hours long. With all the talents and efforts we put together, we were able to present the Taiwanese culture and tradition to so many visitors in this multi-cultural event. And we are sure that we have reached two simple goals; our visitors will remember the word Taiwan in a very positive way, and our volunteers had enjoyed working together to honor our homeland – Taiwan.

May 10, 2006