Golden hour light shines through the panoramic windows of the ULab, illuminating the already bustling first floor of the building where students, families and staff are putting the finishing
touches on their booths. It’s 5:00 p.m., and the annual Night Market is about to begin.
Four years ago, now-graduated Asian and Pacific Islander Student Union leaders had an idea for an event that would celebrate the many different cultures that fall under the Asian and Pacific Islander collective.
“Even though you might share an identity, you have so many different experiences,” Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Taylor Kanemori said. “For the Asian and Pacific Islander group, there’s just so many different identities that live in that overarching umbrella.”
From that initial spark, the former APISU leaders coordinated with Kanemori to organize the first Night Market; a school-wide, annual celebration of all Asian and Pacific Islander cultures. Four years later, the Night Market is now a staple event within the greater UPrep community.
“We want this to be something that people really enjoy. We want this to be a showplace of our culture together,” Kanemori said.
When it comes to planning this event, the DEIB office and APISU spend time meticulously working out logistics and goals for the event. The planning this year began before spring break.
“Communication is a big thing. I need to talk with the other APISU leaders, and then also communicate with Taylor to just make everything run as smoothly as possible. Because with the night market, there’s a lot of moving parts,” senior APISU leader Jin Heraty said.
Sophomore Jillian Lee hosted a booth with her family for the first time this year.
“I just kind of thought it would be fun to do one. I’ve been to all the night markets in the past, and so I really was inspired by what I saw. So I kind of wanted to just try it out,” Lee said.
Lee, and her family, hosted one of ten booths at the market.
“I mean they obviously wanted a big variety of different types of food, because APISU has such a wide range of different ethnicities. And the whole point of the night market, I feel like, is to celebrate that,” Lee said.
While the celebration highlights the diverse backgrounds within APISU, the broader vision for the market is to share the foundation of these traditions with the wider campus community.
“The main inspiration is just having a school event to showcase Asian culture. And night markets are common throughout Asia, so this is something that brings different Asian cultures together,” Heraty said.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Program Manager Flor Hernandez Morales is reminded of the community the event fosters.
“I think ultimately, what we’ve heard from people every time is like, it really brings people together,” Hernandez Morales said. “They get to take pride in showcasing some of their culture, and there is a lot of joy and connection.”
