Columbus Asian Festival

Continuing our tradition of hitting up all the local festivals, we went to the Asian Festival on Saturday. We attended in the capacity of Red Cross volunteers, manning the first aid tent. I am happy to report that there were no major incidents while we were there, mostly lots of band-aids for people with poor footwear and a couple bandages for scrapes and bruises as a result of falls.

The Asian Festival features the foods, handicrafts, and art of the many countries lumped together as Asia. It is a well attended festival, with a very diverse crowd. The park it is located in is not in a great area of town, but the many police in attendance seemed to keep things under control. The two features of the festival are the performances and the food. There are three stages featuring a wide variety of acts from martial arts to interpretive dance. There are a lot of talented people here in Columbus.

The food was spectacular. I was worried that the festival would mostly have overpriced fast food, like many festivals. Instead, it was a showcase of much of the best ethnic food in Columbus. There were even many vegetarian options. I ate well and too much!

One interesting event was a sport somewhat like volleyball. The main difference is that you can only use feet and head to hit the ball, no hands. This forced a variety of acrobatic moves to spike the ball with flying feet. Interesting and physically impressive.