Orange County’s 12th Annual Moon Festival Banquet
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SendA fun time was had by all at Orange County’s 12th annual Moon Festival Banquet on October 4 held at the Ten Ten Seafood Restaurant in Artesia.
To start off the event, families played a game in which every guest had a picture of their Chinese zodiac animal pinned to their back, and children ran about the large dining room trying to count up all the roosters, rats, dragons, etc. to win the grand prize, a giant stuffed panda. Perhaps it was predictable that pigs represented the largest group that turned out for the banquet, but there was a scattering of every type of animal, and kids had a great time trying to count them all up.
Next, the families sat down for a seven-course Chinese meal, starting with delicious minced chicken and corn soup and ending with traditional moon cakes, with many other delights in between.
Charles Lee of the JC Cuture Foundation in Cerritos assembled an exceptional line-up of talented Chinese cultural performers, which began their performance with loud drums and two huge lions. The lion dancers, accompanied by shrieking from all the little girls, moved all around the room mugging and interacting with almost every kid. After their rousing dance, the young men inside the lion costumes explained the meaning of the lion dance and let one of the children climb into the costume and operate the controls that made the lions wink and blink. The lions were followed by a classic erhu performance, a calm and restorative interlude after the chaos of the lions.
Next, there was a beautiful Peacock Dance, after which the beautifully gowned dancer invited children to come to the stage to learn some of the peacock dance moves. Last but not least, there was an exciting demonstration of wushu martial arts, with lots of flips and airborne contortions.
Panda themed favors and contest prizes were hotly sought after, especially the giant stuffed panda grand prize!
A huge full moon accompanied the families as they headed home after the event.
Many thanks to Debbie Kistler, Susan Tschabrun, Sandy Draper, and other OC Coordinating Committee members for organizing the event!