VietFest featured delicious Vietnamese foods.
Yellow ribboned Vietnamese style leaf hats specked the crowded Tysons Corner Center Plaza at the fifth annual VietFest, a celebration of Vietnamese culture featuring live performances, traditional and modern Vietnamese music, pageants, pho and much more.
Vietfest had free admission, lasted for three days and attracted the most visitors in its four-year history. VietFest is for Vietnamese Americans and anyone who joined in on the celebration.
Vietnamese American artists displayed and sold works such as photos and paintings.
While VietFest featured delicious Vietnamese foods, it also included American-style eating competitions during which contestants chowed down on crawfish and pho.
Women who were “at least 50 percent Asian and 25 percent Vietnamese” competed in the Miss VietFest Pageant for a prize of $1,500 and entry into D.C., Virginia, or Maryland Miss World America and Miss United States pageants. There was also a pageant for male contestants.
In addition to musically oriented acts, one performance featured the East Coast Chapter of the Compassionate Service Society (CSS), an organization of volunteers who provide services including teaching tai chi to the community. CSS tai chi instructors taught the audience basic tai chi moves.
VietFest was sponsored by the National Organization for Vietnamese American Leadership (NOVAL-DC), which works to celebrate Vietnamese cultural heritage and foster leadership among Vietnamese Americans.