Institute of Texan Cultures hosts Asian Festival Feb. 12: Celebrate Year of the Rooster

(Feb. 11, 2005)--Savor a mouth-watering egg roll, join in the colorful festivities of a lion dance parade and see the fast and furious kicks of kung-fu fighting at the 18th Annual Asian Festival, Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Institute of Texan Cultures in downtown San Antonio.

"The festival is a great place for friends and families to spend quality time together," said Evelyn Crow, participant and festival committee member since 1989. "It's like a family reunion for the Asian community. It's a preservation of our culture within our own families and a promotion of our culture to the greater community."

The festival, sponsored by The Alice Kleberg Reynolds Meyer Foundation, Wells Fargo and H-E-B, opens with the traditional lion dance at 10 a.m. and continues until 5 p.m., featuring food such as Indian tandoori chicken, Japanese sushi, Laotian chicken kabobs, Pakistani lassi, Polynesian kalua pig with cabbage, Thai pad thai, Chinese fortune cookies and colorful ethnic dances from India, Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea and Pakistan.

There will be bonsai and ikebana displays and hands-on activities including calligraphy, mendi, henna tattoos and origami. Arts and crafts will be available for purchase at the festival, and the museum will be open for festival visitors.

Admission is $7; $4, age 65 and older; $4, ages 3-12 and military personnel with I.D.; and free, age 2 and younger.

For more information, call (210) 458-2330 or visit the Institute of Texan Cultures Web site.

--Tina Luther