2025: 40th Annual Asian Celebration & Obon and Taiko Festival (Performances, Music, Martial Arts, Marketplace, Food Trucks, Crafts) Alton Baker ParkNEW

Oregon Asian Celebration - 40th Annual Festival. The Oregon Asian Celebration marks four decades of celebrating the rich cultural traditions of Asia and Asian America. This vibrant festival brings together community members of all backgrounds to enjoy a full day of music, dance, martial arts, folk crafts, youth activities, heritage exhibits, cultural displays, Asian cuisine, and a bustling marketplace. It’s a unique opportunity to explore, engage, and celebrate the beauty of Asian cultural heritage in a welcoming and festive outdoor setting. The event also includes the Obon & Taiko Festival in the evening-an interactive, community dance celebration held under colorful Japanese lanterns to honor ancestors and strengthen community ties.

Date & Time
Saturday, July 19, 2025
10:00 am - 9:00 pm

Free admission

Location
Alton Baker Park, 100 Day Island Rd, Eugene, OR 97401

Event Highlights
• Live music and traditional Asian dance performances
• Martial arts demonstrations
• Folk craft booths and artisan exhibits
• Kids’ cultural activity zone
• Interactive Obon dancing under Japanese lanterns
• Asian food vendors and a multicultural marketplace
• Community organizations and educational exhibits

Schedule
(Full performance and activity schedule to be announced closer to the event)

About the Organizers
The Oregon Asian Celebration is produced by the Asian American Council of Oregon in partnership with the Japanese American Association of Lane County. The celebration began in 1986 as a winter indoor event showcasing the region’s small but vibrant Asian community. It evolved into a major community festival drawing over 15,000 attendees annually.

In 2021, the event transitioned to an outdoor summer celebration at Alton Baker Park. It joined forces with the long-standing Japanese Obon & Taiko Festival, also founded in the 1980s, to create a larger and more inclusive event that honors heritage, diversity, and community spirit. This combined “festival within a festival” remains a free, family-friendly gathering with deep cultural roots and a mission to build bridges through the sharing of Asian traditions.

Organized with the help of hundreds of volunteers and supported by sponsors from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, the Oregon Asian Celebration continues to be one of Lane County’s most recognized and cherished cultural events.

What is the Oregon Asian Celebration
What started in 1986 as a gathering in Eugene, Oregon to celebrate the cultural heritage of our small Asian population has evolved over the years to become a major community festival that has showcased Asian and Asian American diversity through dance and music; the fine arts, folk crafts, heritage exhibits, martial arts, cuisine, youth activities, a bustling marketplace, and more.

Between 1986 to 2020, this colorful winter festival brought more than 15,000 people to the Lane Events Center at the fairgrounds for a full weekend of festivities suitable for all ages.

After 35 years as an indoor cultural festival, the COVID pandemic in 2021 moved event planners to re-imagine this long-standing event as an outdoor summer celebration by partnering with another Asian Council-initiated event, the Japanese Obon & Taiko Festival, established also in the mid-1980s as an evening dance festival held under colorful Japanese lanterns. The Obon & Taiko Festival has been organized by the Japanese American Association of Lane County for most of its history and is held annually to honor one’s ancestors and build a sense of community. The partnership of both festivals to become a festival-within-a-festival continues to be celebrated on the last Saturday in July at Alton Baker Park as a free community event where audience participation in the Obon dances is encouraged.

Today, the original mission of the founders of the Oregon Asian Celebration and the Obon & Taiko Festival remains true to this day, of sharing Asian and Asian American cultural heritage to enhance understanding of cultural diversity and to strengthen human connections in our community. Organizers especially aim to create opportunities for young people to get involved and learn to appreciate how differences can enrich one’s community.

Participation comes from hundreds of volunteers of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities, along with support from public, private, and nonprofit organizations and businesses. The event is produced by the Asian American Council of Oregon and the Japanese American Association of Lane County. The festival is recognized as one of the area’s major events in Lane County, OR.

Event Title
Annual Oregon Asian Celebration Festival Event - Alton Baker Park in Eugene