Cleveland Asian Festival benefits AsiaTown
For Immediate Release
April 1, 2016
Cleveland, OH – The Cleveland Asian Festival is a grassroots
effort to highlight AsiaTown while celebrating diversity and Asian culture in
Northeast Ohio. It is a major reason for the resurgence of and growth in
Cleveland’s AsiaTown community.
When the volunteer founders of the Cleveland Asian Festival created the
event seven years ago their main goals were to showcase Asian culture and
promote the AsiaTown neighborhood of Cleveland.
The Cleveland Asian Festival is still run entirely by volunteers as a
labor of love for their culture, neighborhood and city.
May 21 and 22, 2016 will be the 7th annual Cleveland Asian
Festival and the results have been dramatic.
In 2015 for example, over 45,000 people attended the event and spent
over $2 million in the neighborhood. For
many it was their first visit to Cleveland’s AsiaTown and visitor surveys
showed that a large majority planned on returning to shop and eat in the
neighborhood throughout the year.
This success has also led to many businesses opening or growing in the
neighborhood. Johnny Wu, one of the
founders of the Cleveland Asian Festival, said, “We are all volunteers who work
to build and grow AsiaTown. We wanted to
bring the community together and provide an economic growth engine for the
AsiaTown neighborhood and the first six years have done just that. We are excited about continued success this
year and beyond.”
The grassroots efforts of the all-volunteer Cleveland Asian Festival
team, along with area business and organization partners, have helped uncover a
hidden treasure. Co-founder Lisa Wong says “Due to the
notoriety that the Festival has brought to the neighborhood, small business
owners and restaurants have filled many of the vacant storefronts and others have
remodeled and expanded.”
By bringing together the diverse Asian community and working together
with local Asian non-profits, the annual Cleveland Asian Festival has provided
an economic boost to AsiaTown and led to bustling stores, restaurants and
community resources.
‘We look forward to introducing even more people to AsiaTown at the
Cleveland Asian Festival on May 21 and 22.” said Johnny Wu.
About the 2016 Cleveland Asian Festival
The Cleveland Asian Festival is an annual celebration of Asian Pacific American
Heritage month in May in Cleveland’s Asiatown neighborhood. The Cleveland Asian
Festival is a landmark undertaking to unite the community through collaboration
and recognition of its culture, diversity, and people. A record crowd of 45,018
attended the 6th annual Cleveland Asian Festival in 2015.
The 2016 Cleveland Asian festival will be held May 21 and 22, 2016 from 11am
to 7pm on Payne Ave. between E. 30th St & E. 27th S. Admission and parking are free.
Contact
Johnny Wu, johnny@mdifilm.com
1419 East 40th Street Cleveland, OH 44103
Office: 216.539.4634
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