Daylong festival celebrates APIDA culture

By Mark Muckenfuss

Next week, Cal State Monterey Bay’s Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Center will host its Night Festival and Art Market, events that will feature student artists, a food market, and an evening music and dance celebration. The activities begin at noon on Thursday, March 19.

APIDA Center associate director Peter Xiong hopes the festival will become a signature event for CSUMB. This is Night Fest’s second year and, for the first time, it will also be a nod to Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which is in May. With Commencement dominating that month, Xiong said the decision was made to move the celebration to an earlier date. 

“This is a trial year,” Xiong said. “We are trying this for the first time.”

He doesn’t think the recognition of the APIDA culture will suffer from the change. And having that acknowledgement is important, particularly to mark the upcoming first anniversary of the center’s opening in April. 

Before the center was established, Xiong said, “As long as CSUMB has been a campus, there wasn’t a significant program for the APIDA community. When I was a student [he graduated with a degree in human communications in 2017], there was only Asian Pacific Islander Week, hosted by student organizations such as APIA. So it's beautiful to see people coming together to make the APIDA Night Festival a part of the campus culture. ”  

That’s important, he said, because APIDA students make up 10 percent of the student population. 

“We want to participate and be a part of the celebrations and conversations that happen here on campus,” he said. 

And, on March 19, they will do just that, starting with a student art market from noon to 4 p.m. at the OSU’s Inter-Garrison Plaza. From 2-6 p.m., at the year’s first weekly Associated Students farmers market. Lilikoi Bobba, of Seaside, Carmel’s Haifa coffeehouse and Rye Cookin, based in Sacramento, will be on hand serving up Asian treats. And from 7-11 p.m., dance troupe Black Flag will perform as well as island reggae group 8RO8.

Xiong said he expects to match last year’s numbers when more than 450 people attended the festival. It’s part of the campus’ cultural growth, he said. 

“The APIDA center is slowly finding its footing and identity on campus,” he said. “It’s good now that there’s a foundation for the APIDA community to start building and further establish its identity.”