Hmong Wausau Festival

Despite intense heat and a plethora of events in a summer event season competing for Wausonians’ time, last weekend’s Hmong Wausau Festival transformed the Peoples Sports Complex into a bustling hub of cultural celebration, sports and fun.

Now in its eighth year, the festival boasted over 50 vendors and 100 teams for sports ranging from soccer and volleyball to cornhole and flag football, and welcomed visitors from all across the United States.

“This event is entirely, 100%, run by volunteers,” explained Hmong Wausau Festival Chair Yee Leng Xiong. “It’s entirely because of individuals that are interested in giving back to this community, who are interested in contributing to this community. They are all engaged and involved with making this event a possibility. It’s because of the fact that they have a passion to serve.”

According to the Hmong American Center, Inc., Wausau boasts the highest population of Hmong people per capita in the nation, with Hmong-Americans making up 12% of the city’s population.

Only fitting, then, to celebrate with a heritage festival, one that both serves as a means of spreading appreciation for Hmong culture and helps to fund the Hmong American Center, Inc.’s operations for the year.

“This event is a non-profit event, so we try to do what we can to break even or to raise a little bit of money, and the goal of this money is to go back and support the Hmong American Center’s programs, specifically the elder program and our youth program,” said Xiong. Such programs include providing seniors with transportation to weekly community dinners; awarding students with scholarships; and providing professional attire to young people that they can wear at interviews.

In addition to being exposed to Hmong song and dance, visitors also had the opportunity to attend a talk by keynote speaker Pao Houa Her, the Hmong-American photographer whose work is currently on display at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.

This year’s festival was sponsored in part by the Village of Rib Mountain, the Village of Rothschild, the city of Wausau and the village of Weston.

“The Hmong community don’t really have a specific holiday — other than Hmong New Years — but these are opportunities that we’re adapting from the American community, and use it as an opportunity to come in and interact and get to know each other, as well,” said Xiong.

For more information on Wausau’s Hmong American Center, Inc., the organization behind the Hmong Wausau Festival, visit https://www.hmongamericancenter.org.