On a Saturday afternoon along Sherman Avenue in Evanston, more than 70 vendors and performers transformed a neighborhood into a living celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. Accidental attendees like Patty Wong, who stumbled upon the Umbrella Arts Festival while visiting from Morton Grove, found themselves swept up in the energy of the occasion—admiring handcrafted goods, sampling Asian-inspired baked goods, and watching traditional dances unfold beneath an open sky. For Wong, the serendipitous discovery felt significant enough to mark her calendar for next year.
The festival, now in its sixth year and hosted annually by Evanston Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander American, arrived at the tail end of AAPI Heritage Month with a quiet but deliberate mission: to celebrate the full spectrum of Asian American identity through art, performance, food, and cultural exchange. This year's iteration brought a particular emphasis on Taiwanese culture, with Sara Wu, president of the Chicago Tamkang University Alumni Association, arranging for an e-Pen calligraphy installation that attendees could try firsthand. Wu, who also volunteers with Evanston ASPA, saw the festival as a chance to reach beyond the walls of the Evanston Art Center, where the technology had been on display. "We want people who are in the community so they can all try it," she explained.
The performers came from across the region. Kalapriya, a South Asian performing arts center, and Lane Tech High School's Kapamilya Habang Buhay took the stage with traditional dances that spoke to the festival's commitment to representation across the broader AAPI community. Meanwhile, vendors like McCormick High School senior Tidapa Thampeera, making her debut as a vendor with her co-founded bakery Kinsco Cafe, brought personal investment to the celebration. "There are a lot of people from different backgrounds in this festival, and it's nice to be able to create more exposure with our bakery," Thampeera reflected.
Arianna Unabia Aquino, tabling with the Sinag Art Collective, a Chicago-based Filipino American arts group, articulated a deeper purpose underlying the day's festivities. Rather than settling for the expected narratives about Asian American culture, Aquino and her peers were intent on "capturing every single part of what makes being an Asian American unique." This meant moving beyond stereotypical representations toward genuine creative expression—celebrating the artists themselves, not just cultural artifacts.
That vision found support from the day's speakers, who elevated the conversation about visibility and power. Cook County Commissioner Josina Morita connected the festival to historical struggles and contemporary victories, citing the landmark 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark and the work of ACLU National Legal Director Cecillia Wang. She painted a picture of progress: Asian Americans now serve at municipal, county, and state levels across Illinois, a far cry from the days when, as she put it, "Asian Americans have been on the menu" rather than at the table. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, meanwhile, stressed the vulnerability of the arts and diversity itself at a moment when "the value of diversity is under attack," making events like the Umbrella Arts Festival acts of cultural resistance as much as celebration.