Tampa Bay’s First MASSIVE Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
Growing up in the Tampa Bay Area, I always thought that we were so behind when it comes to the growth of our Asian community. I know that over the years we have multiplied in number, but we never had a place where we could build a good strong foundation. We really have been blessed this year because with the help of Saigon Night Market we are able to give all our small Asian business owners a place that they could call home.
I attended the 2 day event this past weekend and couldn’t have been prouder. It was such a heartwarming sensation seeing the beginning of something big. Lew Nguyen started this one man team because he wanted to bring the Asian community together. He recently moved here a couple years ago from California and wanted to help the community by creating a hub to share Asian culture and food with others. With some inspiration of a similar concept “Saigon Night Market” in California he made it a mission to bring it to the Tampa Bay Area.
There are more than just Vietnamese vendors here, we also have vendors bringing in Laos, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Asian Fusion food, and so much more. The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one the largest Asian festival I’ve seen in the Tampa Bay Area and Lew has announced that they will have more events in the future and they will be bigger and better. I have high hopes as this event was very successful, it was really hot due to the Florida heat, but with it being the first big event, we can all learn from this and improve for the next event. I can’t wait!
This is our first big event we’ve organized and we have tons of plans to make the next one bigger and better! THANK you EVERYONE for coming out and showing love to all the hard working vendors & our night market!!!!
Saigon Night Market (Lew Nguyen) – Instagram
This Mid-Autumn Moon Festival hosted by Saigon Night Market was on 9/16/2023-9/17/2023 at England Brothers Park in Pinellas Park, FL. Typically a traditional event to celebrate the harvest tied to the moon cycle, but we now celebrate it with family and friends, mooncakes and lots of food!
There was around 60 different vendors at this event and it was definitely overwhelming deciding what to eat. I really wished I could have stopped by every vendor, but that was not even remotely possible! I did my best and brought home so much food to eat throughout the week. I will have to say that the Florida sun and heat really killed me and it was one of the biggest complaint I’ve heard from others, but I hope that the next event will be during the cooler months, or possible more shade options as well.
I really do appreciate everyone stopping and saying HI to me!! It really meant a lot, and it is not something I am used to at all. Thank you for all your support and love and thank you for coming out to this event!
I’ll include the 2 day “Everything I ate at the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival” below! – Check out my Instagram post if you wanted to know which item came from which vendors.
