Annual three-day Lantern Festival next weekend

By Elena Buckley | Reportero SDUN

The Little Saigon Foundation (LSF) will hold its second annual San Diego Lantern Festival on Aug. 26, 27 and 28 from noon to 10 p.m. at Hoover High School, 4400 El Cajon Blvd. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children.

Mimicing the huge, many-themed lantern festivals that have been held yearly in Vietnam for more than 2,000 years, this year’s festival, themed “Light up City Heights,” aims to capture the same sense of community warmth, family togetherness and celebration in Little Saigon, which stretches along El Cajon Boulevard from Highland to Euclid avenues.

“They all go out to this festival once a year” said Ursula Lewis, LSF’s development associate. “And it’s just a great, fun way for them all to get together and celebrate something.”

According to Lewis, not many people in the Uptown community know that this Vietnamese block on El Cajon Boulevard exists.

“Not too many people know about it. [The festival] was a way to gather the local community members together in City Heights to put on a cultural festival,” said Lewis. “And also a way to brand a district—the Little Saigon district.”

Lewis said that Orange County and San Jose recently hosted similar festivals. Last year’s San Diego festival attracted 16,000 attendees, and this year the LSF expects up to 30,000 people.

On top of receiving funding from community sponsors, revenue is generated by the ticket sales, which are put toward the next year’s festival. Lewis said that the non-profit LSF also uses these funds to put money back into the surrounding community so as to revitalize the Vietnamese district, bring in tourism and generate business.

“We also use the money toward our youth in City Heights,” said Lewis. “Like teenagers who go to Hoover and Crawford [high schools] and even far away like High Tech High Chula Vista. …We kind of try to build a sense of community amongst them.”

Lewis explained that LSF pulls youths in the area in to help with monthly street clean-ups throughout the Little Saigon district and to volunteer at the Lantern Festival, choosing which booths to set up and what to sell to fundraise for the foundation.

“I think it’s a really great way to learn about another culture,” said Lewis. “And the great thing about this festival is that it’s run by volunteers.”

The festival will shut down a section of El Cajon Boulevard, preventing westbound traffic. Alongside the vendor booths will be carnival rides, multicultural food trucks, street performers, a martial arts competition, break dancing competitions, lion dancers, a lantern parade, lanterns for sale, live entertainment, a talent show, the very first 2011 Miss Asia San Diego Pageant,and a beer garden outside the high school grounds.

Lewis said that ideally more will be done with the actual lanterns during the festivals in the future and that the LSF is building up the event to more closely replicate those held in Vietnam. This unique festival not only empowers community youths, bolsters community businesses and brings awareness to San Diego’s new Little Saigon district, but as Lewis said, it’s a fun day to spend with your family and a way to unite a community.

For more information, visit sdlanternfestival.com. The LSF can also be contacted by calling 752-9461, or e-mailing [email protected].