The August Moon Festival is a global tradition in Asian communities for families to reunite and celebrate with the ones they love. What better time to celebrate such an event with your family than during quarantine.
Quincy Asian Resources Inc. (QARI) hosted its 33rd annual August Moon Festival on Aug. 15 through Facebook live and QATV. This is the first time in the past decades that this event was moved to a virtual setting. Despite the hardships during Covid-19, the planning committee and its community volunteers worked hard, coordinating all of the performances and sponsors through email, to create this wonderful event.
Even though many other organizations and communities have postponed or canceled their August Moon event, QARI decided to move forward by holding it online. In fact, QARI believes this celebration is vital in such a difficult time. Rockey Chan, QARI’s youth program manager, co-host, and lead organizer for this event, believes that this event shows that even with the Covid-19 people can still celebrate together. “We can still be a community by watching this event,” he said. And for a first time virtual event, he believes that the event could not have run any better. Additionally, this virtual setting has allowed for QARI to partner with plenty of organizations that they would not have in a different setting, including QATV.
Philip Chong, QARI’s President & CEO reiterated this same belief. “This special is important for the Asian and immigrant community,” he said, “and it is the event that celebrates the cultural diversity and spirit of Quincy.”
This Festival is one of the biggest celebrations in Massachusetts, having gained huge popularity in the past few years. The event also has the backing of many sponsors and officials who have been to the festival in prior years, and they hold fond memories of their experiences.
Congressman Stephen Lynch has been participating in the festival for many years. In his message to the community, he shared some of his fondest memories of the event, including the time he got to feed an orange to a dragon. Lynch believes that this festival is “a wonderful representation of the asian community.”
This year’s program included a lion dance by New York’s Asian-American Culture Club, as well as performances of traditional Chinese instruments, such as the erhu and the dulcimer. Vivian Lou, also known as the Violinviiv, is the headline performer. She is a classically trained violinist who plays contemporary music throughout Boston.
For the past few years, volunteers have held a phenomenal role in creating and running the festival. Because of its location near Quincy High School, many of these volunteers are high-school students, and every year these students worked at booths or fundraised for QARI. The students also took part in this year’s festival, despite the lack of booths and bouncy houses to run. They helped with their artistic and technical skills by creating the advertisement poster, editing through the pre-recorded videos, and creating a video about the legend of Chang spreading cultural awareness.
