Authentically LA: Lotus Festival

Sam and I hit up the Lotus Festival yesterday in Echo Park. The purpose of the festival is to promote an awareness and understanding of the contributions by the Asian and Pacific Islander people to our culture and to the local and surrounding communities. It's held at Echo Park bc its central location of local Asian and Pacific Islander communities and because it houses the largest lotus bed in the United States.

We had a great time there, not only bc of the food and entertainment but mostly bc it really gave me an appreciation for all the diversity in LA.

In pictures:

Funny monkeys greeted us on the way in:

lots of people and booths...

including birds they were selling...

and brightly colored clothes (I bought a few skirts),..

band was actually decent...

girls Hawaiian dancing on the second stage..

notice all of the parents with camcorders...

wide selection of Asian food - mostly Thai - chicken and beef on skewers but they also had Indonesian, Vietnamese, etc..

saw some Dragon Boats...

they even had this real cool slide.

Overall, Sam and I really enjoyed a few hours there - taking in the sun and eating typical festival food (greasy but decent). Mostly, it was just nice being amongst other cultures in LA. It's what makes the city so special. We'll definitely be back next year.

Here's what Yelpers said.