Organizers with the group Addison County BIPOC+ are planning a first-of-its-kind Lunar New Year Celebration on Feb. 11 at the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury.
The event will feature performances, local food vendors, and a panel discussion with The New Yorker’s E. Tammy Kim.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in East and Southeast Asia, and in diasporic communities. It’s a time for gathering with family and friends, feasting and celebrating a new year.
"It was a really, really important part of my life growing up," said co-facilitator HaQuyen Pham, who was raised in Dayton, Ohio. "There would be a big community — an afternoon of food and music and song."
Co-facilitator Natasha Chang hopes that having a Lunar New Year celebration in Addison County will help cultivate and deepen the local AAPI community.
"I am 100% sure that there are Asian kids and families who are experiencing something similar here in Vermont to what I experienced growing up in a predominantly white community," she said.
Lunar New Year is "a really precious time," Chang added. "We are really excited."
Broadcast at noon Tuesday, January 30, 2024; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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