NBC 5 is highlighting North Texans who are proud of their culture and how it has shaped what it means to be part of the fastest-growing population in Texas.
While some events are already underway, there are so many more ways to celebrate across the metroplex this month.
In just a couple of weeks, one of the biggest celebrations in the region will take place at Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie.
The Asian Heritage Fest is happening May 17 through May 19, featuring food vendors, cultural performances, daily lion dances and an inaugural 5K race. The entire event is free to attend along with free parking.
NBC 5 spoke with the CEO of Asia Times Square, Matthew Loh, who has worked very hard in the last decade to transform the shopping center into a cultural hub for many Asian American families in DFW.
“Our mission is preserving tradition and promoting culture,” he said. “Our mission statement is to become the destination connecting cultures and communities. And this has been the fabric of our businesses, to bring people together, to unite people.”
Loh has also faithfully served on the Grand Prairie Chamber of Commerce Board for the last 10 years. With his leadership, the chamber became the very first in North Texas to have created an Asian Business Division, which catapulted the chamber into a multicultural business professional organization. The Asian Business Division was recognized during the 113th U.S. Congress, Second Session and is now part of the Congressional Record.
His family is also behind the Hong Kong Market Place grocery store that has been in Dallas since the 1980s. Loh, the youngest of his family, graduated from the University of Texas, Arlington in 1995 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering but took on the family business to help create change.
Despite a steadily growing Asian American population in North Texas, Loh remembers how difficult it was in the early days to find businesses that catered to those communities.
“Very extremely limited, extremely limited. It was hard to find the food and the exotic foods that we grew up loving to eat,” he said.
Many years before they settled in North Texas and laid the groundwork for their business legacy, Loh and his parents experienced hardship as refugees escaping Vietnam in the 1970s.
“We took huge risks to come to America,” he said. “We did risk our lives as refugees escaping Vietnam. So now that we’re in this country, we have taken full advantage of all the opportunities that it provides.”
Loh said he’s proud to be part of a growing wave generation that is building up their pride of identity here in DFW.
“It means a lot. I’m a very proud Asian-American. And as all immigrants in the U.S., there are challenges and difficulties that we have to overcome. No different from my family,” he said.
In fact, the Asian Heritage Fest was started in response to the anti-Asian hate that started to grow during the pandemic.
