On Saturday, Jan. 14, local community members gathered at the Little Saigon Creative to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Tết). The event was organized by Friends of Little Sài Gòn, an organization focused on centering Vietnamese culture and advocacy in the community. Mak Fai Kung Fu performed a lion dance and was followed up by a workshop where event attendees learned how to make bánh tét — a traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year dish made with glutinous rice, mung beans, and pork wrapped in banana leaves. The workshop was led by instruction from Yenvy Pham, co-owner of Hello Em Cafe & Roastery and owner of Phở Bắc Restaurants; Trinh Nguyen, owner of Ba Sa Restaurant; and Theresa Cat Vu, founder and owner of Phở Bắc Restaurants.
The Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition celebrates “40 Years of Continuing King’s Mission”
by Susan Fried
After two years of being unable to use Garfield High School due to pandemic restrictions, the Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition took full advantage of access this year. On the 40th anniversary of the MLK March and Rally on Monday, Jan. 16, the coalition hosted a jobs fair, workshops, and a huge rally in the high school gym. The weather turned out to be beautiful for the thousands of people who marched from Garfield, with a brief stop at the King County Juvenile Detention Center, to Jimi Hendrix Park by the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) where another small rally was held.
Despite a brief interlude of freezing rain and icy roads that made it difficult to travel around Seattle, people made it out to a variety of holiday events that took place around the South End. There were Christmas events, Hanukkah concerts, holiday markets, and Kwanzaa celebrations throughout the month of December. Children visited Santa, parents shopped for presents from local artisans and makers, and people of all ages enjoyed live music and dance performances.
