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High winds and heavy rains didn't deter a few hundred people from experiencing various cultures from across Asia this weekend. Sponsored by the Asian Arts and Culture Center, the Many Moons Festival brought a variety of food, artwork and performances to the Center for the Arts.
Some students fully immersed themselves in the spirit of the event. Alex Li, a sophomore theatre design major, wore a traditional Japanese kimono.
"This is my first time ever going to an Asian arts festival," Li said. "I've heard a lot about this, and my professor really wanted me to go, so I actually dressed up and decided to go."
He said that the rain didn't hinder his drive to attend the event, and that he didn't think it stopped many other people either.
"I think it's making it harder, but I don't think it's stopping people altogether. There are still people coming in, and I hiked all the way here in a kimono, so it can't be that bad," he said.
Other patrons thought the rain made a big impact on the attendance of the festival.
"A lot of people are staying home because they're afraid of what's coming," Debbi Valasco, who attended the event with the Japanese Dolls and Crafts School, said. "For something this large, they should have a lot more people."
Arts and crafts and the Crossroads Marketplace opened as the festival did at 11 a.m. Children - and adults too - were seen flooding the grand hall on the third floor for arts and crafts throughout the day. Patrons could make origami, paper dolls, Chinese rope knotting, fruit carvings, paper cuttings and more.
The Crossroads Marketplace offered both food and handicraft vendors to attendees. A variety of Asian cuisine, including some from local restaurants such as Café Spice and Parsa Kabob, filled the atrium of the Center for the Arts. The food could be smelled upstairs at the other half of the Marketplace, where traditional handicrafts such as fans, kimonos, dolls and more were on sale.
Also at the Marketplace were experts on different types of natural healing - acupuncture, yoga, Feng Shui and massage.
Though many vendors were there simply to promote their businesses, some of them appreciated the festival for how it was promoting cultural awareness.
"It's really intimate as far as sharing ideas with another culture, and just being really open and aware. There are a lot of different things we can learn from this," Julie Mae, a therapist for Massage Envy, said. "I've never done anything like this before, as far as something specifically for the Asian arts and culture, but this is really cool."
Other events such as dances, musical performances from the different countries, tea tasting, martial arts demonstrations and an anime workshop took place throughout the day.
Towson students could also be seen amongst the crowds. However, some had a different reason for attending other than experiencing a different culture.
"Truthfully, [we came] because it's inside and it's raining outside," Emily Fromm, a freshman theatre major, said. "My friend is working here and she said it's supposed to be a really impressive cultural experience."
Some people in attendance were disappointed that the University only held the event every other year instead of making it an annual event.
"Oh, they should have it every year. It's a lovely way to get to see a lot of different things in one location. It's very rare to be able to do something like this," Valasco said.
Despite a lower-than-normal attendance, people who attended and worked the Many Moons festival got a chance to appreciate a culture other than their own.
"I think it's a wonderful opportunity for people to be able to experience cultures that we're not normally exposed to. That sounds really fabricated, but I really do feel like people don't get to see this all the time. People don't get to see what Indonesian food tastes like and all that kind of stuff," junior music performance major Ida Mehrnoush, who worked at the event, said. "They're really giving us this entire day to step outside our own world and see someone else's."
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