Event Promotes Asian Unity : Celebration: People from various cultures gather at Mile Square Park for the two-day festival, the first of its kind in Orange County.

Orange County’s burgeoning Asian community took a step toward political and cultural unity Saturday with the opening of a two-day festival featuring ethnic music, food, art, athletics and lots of politicking.

“We want to get together so that we can exchange our cultures and ideas,” said Khoa Van Le, vice chairman of the nonprofit committee that organized the Asian-American Festival at Mile Square Park.

The festival is the first of its kind in Orange County. It was organized by a cross-cultural committee that includes representatives of the local Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Asian Indian, Iranian, Korean, Pakistani and Thai communities, according to Le.

“We would like to unify the Asian community,” Le said. “It’s a time to learn from each other--to share the heritage we brought with us from our various countries.”

Another purpose is to bring Asians into the American democratic process as informed and registered voters, Le said. In Orange County, where many Asian immigrants have strong conservative leanings, that primarily translates into support for Republican candidates.

The Republican Party, in fact, was one of the initial sponsors of the event, which originally was to be called the Asian-American Republican Festival. Organizers recently dropped the “Republican” from the name, they said, to make the festival less exclusive. They also extended an invitation to the local Democratic organization to staff a booth at the event.

But the Republicans’ presence was very much evident on opening day. Two Republican booths, one staffed by Vietnamese and the other by Hmong, seemed to be doing a brisk business. Included in Saturday morning’s opening ceremonies were speeches by Dennis Catron, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County and U.S. Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr., billed as a “special envoy” of the President of the United States.

Organizers said they have scheduled a keynote address for Sunday by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn followed by, they hope, a satellite phone message from President Bush and a speech by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach).

And throughout the weekend, they said, numerous Republican candidates of Asian descent will be on hand to personally greet members of the crowd.

But for most, the festival was dominated by the ringing voices of Vietnamese carnies carried over a booming public address system amid the backdrop of gentle strains of Asian music wafting from a large makeshift stage.

While some sampled the egg roll, fried rice, tempura chicken and a myriad of other food offered by the rows and rows of concessionaires, others paid $20 to consult an Asian psychic, gazed at Asian art and cultural exhibits, watched their children take dizzying carnival rides or sat in front of the stage for a series of cultural performances.

Among the performances on Saturday were pop music presentations by Thai and Pakistani groups, a Vietnamese theatrical performance and a demonstration of kick-boxing by Asian young people. Also scheduled for the festival were a Miss Asian-American Beauty Pagaent and a volleyball tournament. Organizers hoped to attract about 10,000 people throughout the weekend.

Lena Kieu, 25, a Vietnamese-American from Garden Grove, said she saw the event as an important step toward Asian unity.

“We should know every culture,” she said. “We should be united to prevent conflicts and misunderstanding.”

Kim Phan, 22, a Vietnamese-American truck driver who came from Utah for the festival, said he saw it as a valuable way of remembering his nation’s history.

“We need to remember what and who we were,” he said, browsing through a Vietnamese cultural exhibit. “Back in Utah we don’t have anything like this.”

And Rex Uchimura, a Japanese-American attending the festival with his Greek-American wife, said his favorite thing about the festival was the food.

All of which made organizer Le happy.

“We want to show the people of the United States that we come here, we live among them, we pay taxes and we share the same dream,” he said. “We want to work with them to build this country.”