The New York State Fair kicked off its 13-day run Wednesday, and Governor Kathy Hochul performed the traditional opening ceremonies. She also took a tour of some of the fair’s latest additions and improvements.
One of Hochul’s first stops was at the new Asian Village on the fair’s west end. Superintendent Tai Shaw greeted her.
"Welcome to Asia!" Shaw exclaimed to applause.
She also watched a few minutes of a Lion Dance of the Vietnamese community.
Shaw has been organizing events across the community for more than 20 years, many of them involving New Americans. He says fair director Sean Hennessey approached him recently and asked what could be done differently at the fair. Shaw answered that New Americans need a voice.
“I say just simply, you know, give us a a place at the state fair where we can feel like we are home. So I invited him to the World Refugee Days. He saw what he saw, and he said 'this is great. Let’s bring this to the State Fair.' I said, 'are you serious?' He said 'yes'.”
Shaw says in planning the Asian Village, he wanted to appeal to the five senses.
“Everything is balanced because a lot of our new American and the Asian community are invisible," Shaw said. "People don't recognize the community, so when I sit down and thinking about it, there's five things in human nature…hear, see, smell, taste and touch. A lot of our New American and our Asian community, it's a language barrier. And the culture sensitivity.”
By that he means he wants to be sure the various regions of Asia are represented, even in the food.
“There's Vietnamese food. There’s Hmong food. There’s Nepali food. There’s Turkish food. There's Middle Eastern food, and there's Korean food.”
The Asian Village joins other cultural villages including the Latino, Pan Africa, and Indian Villages.
