Mark Your Calendar--Press Release: Autumn Moon Festival at Eden Center, 09/27/2008
Lan Le
Alan B. Frank 2901 Telestar Court Telephone (703) 204-4600
General Counsel and Suite 555 Facsimile (703) 204-2289
Senior Vice President Falls Church, VA 22042 E-mail: afr...@capcomprop.com
August 25, 2008
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Autumn Moon Festival Celebration at Eden Center
Saturday, September 27, 2008; 2pm-9:30pm
Free Admission
Falls Church, VA - Eden Center will host its very first Autumn Moon Festival to celebrate the second biggest holiday in the Asian lunar calendar. We invite everyone to take part in this exciting event on Saturday, September 27th from 2:00pm until 9:30pm. Eden Center businesses will remain open during the festival.
The celebration will include a myriad of fun and exciting activities with entertainment, contests, workshops, and exhibits put together by the collaborative efforts of the center’s tenants and community organizations. “It’s a family affair indeed,” says Alan B. Frank, General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Eden Center, Inc., who spearheaded this initiative, “and we hope everyone will join us to experience the Vietnamese culture and traditions through music, dance, food, games, lantern making workshop, story telling, fun face painting, and craft activities for the young and young-at-hear. Dress up your little loved ones and have them join in on our opening parade with the Moon Fairy, Chú Cuội, Thỏ Đế characters and a roaring Lion Dance performance! Eden Center appreciates this opportunity to bring families and organizations together for a very special event!”
In addition, there will be 3 contests with some fun prizes: (1) the Children’s Art Contest for children from 1st to 5th grades will be coordinated by the Vietnamese Youth Education Association; (2) the Miss Eden Center Pageant 2008 for the older youth members will be hosted by our 3 young and vibrant emcees; and (3) the Lantern Contest followed by the Lantern Parade will conclude our celebration of the beauty of the Autumn moon. Instructions for these contests can be obtained by contacting the organizing committee via the email address below. The children will also enjoy fairy tales about the Autumn Festival while sampling some moon cake bites (traditional round pastry served especially for this festival filled with mung bean, lotus paste, egg yolks, or nuts) generously donated by Eden Center bakeries. Fascinating fortunes will be told, magic tricks will make you laugh and an introduction to the game of “Bau Cua Ca Cop” (this game is not new to the Vietnamese folks and is a very popular “try-your-luck” game during Tết and other celebrations) will give our visitors a chance to try their hand! The center’s art exhibit areas will feature works of local artists and artisans and valuable materials from many community organizations. And of course, the parking issue has been well thought through. Eden Center has arranged for over 150 additional parking spaces for the festival. Please look for our announcements for more details. We also encourage use of Metro and carpooling.
“We hope this will set off a tradition for the years to come. The Eden Center’s management team is in full support of this event as an annual celebration at Eden Center,” says Lê Thùy Lan of NAVASA, who assisted the team to coordinate this pilot program, “and we encourage the tenants and community organizations to step up and drive this effort going forward. It makes perfect sense to have both the two most celebrated events, Tết and Trung Thu, to take place at the heart of our community in Northern Virginia.”
Background on the Autumn Moon Festival
In many Asian cultures, the roundness of the full moon symbolizes togetherness, harmony, and family unity. The Autumn Moon Festival is held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendars when the moon appears the largest and brightest. This is when our families gather to celebrate the Fall Equinox at the end of the harvest season. This ancient tradition allows time for the family to unite in a perfect circle just like the moon – stability, unbreakable, never-ending, and harmonious.
For more information, please contact:
Alan B. Frank, 703 204-4600
Paul DeLaney, 703 622-1739
Lê Thùy Lan, NAVASA, 703-627-8688
Email: trung...@gmail.com