Dallas Asian Festival 2008

I had another great day at the Dallas Asian Festival.

I got a good shot of this cute little boy last year – his mom remembered me, and his fascination with the silkworms. This time, he got to hold one of the moths. I meant to get his name, but got caught up in talking with his mom.

One of the things I like the most about the Asian Festival, is getting to see people who experienced silk culture in their lives in Asia, share it with their children and friends. Their faces light up – you just don’t SEE this stuff in the US. Often, someone will come up and explain the whole thing to another family member, in Korean, or Mandarin, or Cambodian. It’s kind of like how music can cross cultural boundaries – the silk is a common language.

This man was showing his family the different parts of the silk process; he kept explaining to my helper Evelyn, that the silkworm in Chinese is “chang.”

The kids get a little “passport” that they take to each booth and get a stamp from each country. They can turn it in at the end, for a little prize. I was China. Because I’ve usually got my hands full with the silk, I asked for a volunteer to help stamp the passports. They gave me a beauty pageant queen! Her name is Jade. She was great with handing out the cocoons – and people kept stopping by to get their pictures taken with her. I’ve never had a SpokesModel before.

These twin girls could barely see over the counter – but they were engrossed with the caterpillars.

17 replies
  1. molasses
    molasses says:

    a) the same kid! that’s so great.
    b) i thought her banner deal said, “Miss Dew” which was poetic and sweet.
    in my opinion.
    c) you’re cuter than her.
    d) YAY for your day and thank you for showing a bit of it.

    chang!

  2. omenode
    omenode says:

    Hi mate, Have been a fan of your dedication and patience from what I have seen in lj.
    Just had to share with you , that I bought a 2nd hand table top loom at a local market the other day.
    I hope to, once I figure it out (it came with no instructions ) to weave fishing line.
    Thanks for sharing your pictures, they are fantastic!
    Thanks for inspiring me.

  3. alyxavia
    alyxavia says:

    We really wanted to come to the festival this year but we had company in town for a family wedding. My girlies would have liked the festival much better than the wedding.

    You are cuter than the beauty queen. Oh, and my little kitten is turning into a wonderfully lovely little cat.

  4. sclerotic_rings
    sclerotic_rings says:

    Oh, I wish I’d been there to see everything. (As it was, I think I had as much fun as you did with my presentation, and I even had the Czarina as my own spokesmodel.) Next year, then?

  5. admin
    admin says:

    Well, I’m sorry we missed each other – and glad to hear your kitty is growing up nicely. Ours is lovely, but has become skittish because we had to medicate him for a while.

  6. tilia_tomentosa
    tilia_tomentosa says:

    Dallas Asian Festival 2008

    I’m GLAD that you had such a great day! And I’m glad you met last’years litle boy again! Thank you for sharing the photos! The Inexperienced Idiot from Bulgaria

  7. admin
    admin says:

    Ah – silk demo! I demonstrate the silk process, display live silkworms and moths to show the life cycle, and talk to people about how silk is made.

    It’s particularly neat to do this for the Asian Festival, because it’s such an important part of many Asian cultures.

  8. Irma
    Irma says:

    Hi there, I am the organizer of this year’s Asian festival. Do you have pictures of this year’s event. It will be nice to see your blog on that. Thank you so much for coming. What an interesting activities! I am looking forward to have you next year.

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