When the organization Evanston Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islander Americans hosted the first Umbrella Arts Festival five years ago, it was a “casual get together,” Evanston ASPA Founding Director Melissa Raman Molitor said. 

However, the event’s fifth installment Saturday hosted 49 vendors alongside local nonprofits, artistic performances and speeches from community members in Fountain Square. 

Speaking to a crowd of attendees, Molitor said she never would have imagined the event would grow to the extent that it has. Molitor — a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — also highlighted the importance of the arts in fostering empathy and understanding within the Evanston community. 

“Today is not only a celebration of the Asian American community, it’s also a celebration of the arts,” Molitor said. “The arts have the ability to draw us in and to connect us in a time when words are failing us.” 

Hanging around the square were several colorful umbrellas, decorations derived from the festival’s name. According to Evanston ASPA’s website, the umbrella symbolizes the Asian American diaspora, including ethnicities from over 40 Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Island countries around the world.

Brian Ng, founder of Community Creamery, attended the event for the first time this year and sold handcrafted ice cream. Ng delivers his product using his Milk and Honey Truck and partners with various community organizations for local events. He emphasized the importance of getting locals to try his product and said events like the festival help small businesses thrive. 

“I think it’s important to showcase the different flavors to people so they can just try different things,” Ng said. “So the flavors I brought today are more Asian-oriented flavors, like a roasted tea, matcha, matcha chocolate chip.”

Ng represented one of many food trucks and local restaurants that sold attendees meals or snacks to try as they browsed local business offerings or gathered at the festival’s main stage. The stage featured cultural performances from a variety of local dance groups, including Brothers Lion Dance Group and the Flying Fairies Dance Troupe. 

Several art-making opportunities were also available for children of all ages, from designing wooden mandalas to traditional Chinese painting. 

Also scattered throughout the square were booths hosting community organizations and local businesses. 

Maggie Peng’s home decor and art business Pink & Tan is part of the Evanston ASPA Business Association, which provides resources and support for Asian-owned businesses in Evanston. Saturday, she manned a booth at the festival selling items from her store. 

Peng said the event was a great way to bring Asian American culture and heritage to the public in a fun and enjoyable way. 

“I think it brings a lot of people from different parts of Chicagoland to the area that may or may not know that this is here,” Peng said. “Evanston has over 70 small business owners. A lot of them are restaurants, retail spaces, a lot of those spaces. So this is kind of our best example of how we all come together.”

In a speech midway through the festival, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss noted the importance of uplifting Asian American voices, especially as he said the immigrant community is “under attack.”

“The Asian American community has been far too invisible in Evanston, and we are working to change that,” Biss said. “We’re working to change that through these cultural festivals. We’re working to change that through representation in city government, and we’re working to change that by making sure that when we talk about our diversity, the pivotal role that the Asian American community plays in that is not an afterthought, but central to our conversations.”

Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita, the first Asian American woman to serve on the Cook County Board, also spoke at the festival. 

She stressed the importance of Asian American representation for the next generation. 

“I think about, where are they going to have a space to find themselves and feel welcome as they are?” Morita said. “These kinds of spaces are exactly where they come and they run around, and they see other mixed race Asian kids, and feel at home.”  

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