TAMPA, Fla. — For about 40 years, Anh Nguyen has called Tampa Bay home.
While work and raising her kids became her priorities earlier in life, Nguyen said she feels it's a responsibility now to help make younger generations proud of their roots.
"Since I retired… I feel like this is about time," Nguyen said. "We are Americans, but the different backgrounds just make us, you know, richer.”
Nguyen, who is from Vietnam, was among the presenters during Tampa's Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival held at Curtis Hixon Park in May. On top of performances, food, authentic merchandise, and informational exhibits were on display.
Nguyen takes pride in celebrating her roots. After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, Nguyen was among those who escaped the country.
She doesn’t want the younger generations to forget their roots.
"We want more involvement from the younger generation," she said.
Everyone’s differences were shared on one stage by the water.
Local Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Bangladeshi and Filipino communities were among those who participated on stage.
Both younger and older generations took part in traditional performances.
For those like Shephali Rele, it became an opportunity to reminisce about her childhood.
“I was actually the only brown kid in my school from kindergarten to high school, and that was fine because I was in a very welcoming community at that time in the 70s and 80s, and I loved sharing about my culture. People wanted to learn,” Rele said.
Rele is among those who serve on the Tampa Mayor’s Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council, which organized the festival.
Classical performances go thousands of years back. Lisha Dong, president of the Chinese-American Association of Tampa Bay, echoes the importance of passing on traditions and customs that go thousands of years back.
“It’s very important,” she said.
Meanwhile, those like Joey Omila hope all the hard work to celebrate and maintain Filipino culture locally will only continue.
“I'm 75 years old this year,” Omila said. "I love what I do. I love what I do for the community, for the mayor and for all these countries. It's fascinating."
For Omila, the mission to promote goes back to 1986, when he first moved to Tampa. It took hard work to eventually form the Philippine Cultural Foundation, along with building a cultural center and dance group.
“We’re all very much more similar than we are different,” Rele said.