Pre-K students in Chi Nguyen’s class at Florence Parsons Pre-K school in Garland ISD, perform onstage to a large admiring crowd during Asian American Heritage Festival, which featured dance performances, musical acts, and a host of vendors. A large crowd of well over a thousand of area enthusiasts were drawn to Downtown Square in Garland on May 16, 2026.
Steve Hamm/The Dallas Morning News
At the heart of downtown Garland on a windy, sunny Saturday afternoon, over a thousand people gathered to celebrate and take part in the 4th annual Asian American Heritage Festival.
Dozens of vendors set up shops under bright purple tents lining the streets along Downtown Garland Square, selling a variety of food, garments, key chains, beverages and more. Visitors stood in long queues waiting for their turn at the counters to order rice cakes, delicacies made from ube – a purple yam that originates from Philippines, brisket, egg rolls and a range of other cuisines.
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Families walked about the streets with their children, some brought their own picnic blankets to sit down with food and beverages on the green spaces, as kids ran around the square doing cartwheels and playing in groups. The festival kicked off with short remarks from community leaders, followed by a range of different cultural performances from different parts of the world.
Garland Mayor Dylan Hedrick, who has held the position since June of last year, said he has been attending the festival since its inception.
“It is growing bigger and better every single year,” he said. “It’s just a wonderful celebration of all the diversity we have in Garland.”
Hedrick said Garland has a huge population from diverse cultures, and this is a festival that brings everyone together in a celebration of uniqueness and community spirit. He added this is the first time the festival was hosted at the Downtown Garland Square.
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Jennifer Nguyen, a community leader and one of the core organizing members behind the festival, said it is not just the Asian community that is out and about celebrating their culture, but people from all ethnic groups.
She said people from all age groups and professional backgrounds made it to the festival on Saturday – children, high school students, adults – and that is what makes it special.
“I’m so happy to be here today,” she said.
Nguyen said she plans to send out a survey in hopes of hearing back from the community in terms of what can be done to make things better next year.
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Cultural performances included live music played by a Bangladeshi band named Kuhu and Friends, dance performances by elementary schools and traditional lion dance with firecrackers. The crowds cheered on from the square as performers sang and danced to the tunes.
Macy Chiasson, who moved to Dallas from New Orleans, said it was her first time attending the festival. Chiasson said her 10-month-old daughter is Korean American, and she wanted to take her to a festival that surrounds her with some of her roots.
Her first stop was at a booth selling Tteokbokki, a popular Korean street food made of rice cakes. She hoped to get some ube later.
“I just love different cultures, the food, the environment and being around a diverse group of people,” she said.
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Trong Phan drove all the way from Irving to attend the festival in Garland. Phan, who teaches career counseling at Dallas College, said he has attended the festival in the last few years and loves it.
Phan said if his kids were young, he would have loved to bring them to the event. He said he took them to similar events in the past.
“I think this is a wonderful experience for young kids to see their own culture … it’s so beautiful,” he said.