Asian Festival Celebrates Ten Years With 50,000 of Their Closest Friends

The tenth annual Knoxville Asian Festival celebrated throughout the World’s Fair Park last Saturday, with an anticipated 50,000 people in attendance. The festival, which started in tiny Krutch Park Extension has grown every year to become one of the the city’s largest festivals and one of the country’s largest Asian Festivals. Numerous cultures display traditional costumes and colors, while some slip in more modern examples of their cultural contributions.

This year’s festival started with a Friday night sneak peak for sponsors of the professional Sumo wrestlers brought in for this year’s festival. In perhaps the first professional Sumo exhibition in Knoxville, three wrestlers traveled to the city and fought a round-robin exhibition. While the three challenged for supremacy, the audience also got a good dose of information about the sport and about the individuals who traveled to Knoxville to demonstrate the sport.

Weighing in at 350, 500, and 550 pounds, and ranging from 5’10” to well over six feet, the combatants played to their strengths. In the end, the smallest both by weight and height won the competition using his small stature to undercut the others and force them from the ring. The exhibition concluded with members of the audience challenging the fighters to great comedic effect.

Festival morning started with a 10:30 am parade of the various countries represented, culminating with introductions on the amphitheater stage. Three different stages shuttled performances from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm. In addition to the amphitheater stage, smaller stages operated on the north festival lawn and on the south performance lawn. I enjoyed other small performances and activities at various tents, as well.

The issues with lines at food vendors the festival has experienced over the years seemed to be largely improved. Long lines stretched from many vendors, but the number of food options always left some lines shorter than others. A bit of flexibility with food choice made finding a shorter line possible even at the peak of lunch time. I enjoyed some great egg rolls and dumplings with no wait in line and about a fifteen minute wait for the food to be freshly prepared.

The festival is notoriously hot, and this year proved no exception. With temperatures in the mid-nineties, hydration was imperative. The festival has gone to great lengths to provided cooling stations and spots to fill water bottles. I’d love to see stands that sold nothing but water. It would make a small fortune. Festival organizers also provided more shade and places to sit than ever before. The amphitheater obviously provided most of the shade, but a large tent on the performance lawn also offered chairs, tables and, most importantly, shade.

The entertainment is enough to bring festival goers back each year and the number of performers and performances assures that you won’t cover it all in one year. It’s hard to pick highlights, but the Matsuriza Japanese drummers from Disney World, the Lion Dance from Wah Lum Kung Fu, and the Korean Fan Dance are exciting and beautiful. I found a truly mesmerizing performance in a tent on the performance lawn. I have a video clip of that and a couple of other performances below.

The larger pictures here include a few of my favorites, but the larger group also includes some great photos from the day. Check them out below and click the photos to enlarge them. Hopefully the video and photos give you a little boost to attend next year if you missed the fun this year.