NORWOOD, Ohio — In the basement of Our Lady of Lavang Vietnamese Church in Elmwood, two lions danced through the crowd of toddlers to seniors.
“At least we can bring you a little closer to home, even though we are so, so far away from it,” said Vinh Tran, who works on the church’s youth ministry.
As the drum was beat to the performers, hundreds packed in celebrating with food, red envelopes and good company.
A similar scene happened in Norwood, too. Asianati packed Gatherall Food Hall for its first Lunar New Year celebration.
“There's so many different ways to celebrate here in the community, which we're really excited about,” said Asianati Social Media Manager Samantha Burke.
Guests were treated to cooking demonstrations, photo booths, craft areas and a plethora of Lunar New Year decorations.
Asianati social media coordinator Vidita Kanniks said she appreciated how the offerings highlighted both the diversity of celebrations around the holiday, while still highlighting the Asian community’s unity.
“Success to me, we’re already kind of looking at it, right?” Kanniks said. “This event is huge.”
“Success might also look like the fact that this event here is happening in a public space … where someone might just stop by to get a coffee,” she said. “They see an Asianati booth and they come and ask a question. And then that drives them to come back, or support or just participate.”
Content creator Kijune Kim said it’s also important to consider the impact of each individual interaction. He said he loves watching the moment someone walks into the food hall and sees all the decorations.
“They’re like: ‘I didn’t know this existed. I didn’t know there were so many restaurants. I didn’t know there were other people who I can identify and relate with.'”
That’s something Sein Sozard experienced firsthand. She said it was a “shock”’ after she walked in.
“We don’t have to go to China to celebrate, we can just come down the street,” she said.
Kim was at the event interviewing people about the experience of growing up Asian-American in the Midwest.
“While we aren't big in numbers, the experiences and shared stories that we have really unite us,” he said.
Those experiences are often centered around food, Kanniks said. That’s something The Wongs know well at Fort Mitchell’s Oriental Wok.
“Cincinnati is opening up, you know, new pockets of people, you know, a lot of different cultures coming,” Wong said. “It's more diverse. People really want to celebrate the Lunar New Year.”
They can do that in true style at Oriental Wok on Feb. 26. They are preparing a feast just like the private one they hosted for their own family. It will have a 10-course dinner, fireworks and lion dancing.
