8.18 - A Day Worth Remembering

张川Jerry

Like a typical cloudless August Day, in the small town of Waterloo Ontario, the sun was brightly shining on August 18. The City’s Town Square has been washed by an overnight storm and it now looked extraordinarily fresh and clean. The “818 Chinese Festival Day” was held here today.

 

The directors and volunteers from WCCA came to The Square early in the morning to set up the venue. Now the colorful banners were flying everywhere in the square filled with melodious music and food fragrance. Everything was in order, ready to greet friends.

 

At 11 am the gala officially began. The first thing that caught everyone’s eyes was a blue table right in the center stage, over which a pair of table tennis players swayed beautifully. Then one after another, table tennis fans were competing to be the Champion.

 

Here came the waist-drum dance by a team of Grandmas. They were dressed in bright yellow. Each one of them was energetic and danced gracefully.

 

The Tai Chi performance team all dressed in white martial arts clothing, lining up neatly. Their moves were swift and skillful. The audience was really impressed by this graceful and artistic Kungfu style.

 

Then let’s enjoy the martial arts performance by the teenagers from “Double Dragon Martial Arts Club”. These strong young men demonstrated a traditional double-blade fight.

 

The Lion Dance is one of the most popular folk dances in China. In Chinese traditions, the lion is regarded as a lucky mascot. Now three lions were slowly walking their way to the center of the stage. Led by their master, they danced sometimes as sneakily as a cat; but sometimes as swiftly as a rabbit. Actually, these special moves represent the high-level realm of Chinese martial arts.

 

Morin Khuur, also known as the “horsehead fiddle”, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. The next performer played a song called "Blue Sky” using Morin Khuur and was accompanied by a Mongolian dancer. The combination of music and choreography was so beautiful that the audience was gradually brought into the grasslands of the blue sky and white clouds.

 

Now the Latin American style dance by the “Spanish Culture and Art Troupe” brought exotic flavors to the festival! It again showed the multicultural characteristics inside of the community of Waterloo Region.

 

The food stalls were very busy now serving visitors waiting in long lines. The lamb kebabs, cold noodle, pancake fruit had become the first choice for many. But there was also much other delicious food, such as fritters, hazelnuts, steamed buns, dumplings, rice, fried rice, fried noodles and so on, to choose from.

 

The cultural exhibition tent was also attracting a constant stream of tourists. Xiaowei’s tea show was very popular with unique tea types in unique tea sets. The girls in ancient Han Dynasty costumes were enthusiastically explaining different type of teas and the culture behind. And it is completely free to sample taste these teas. Every visitor was amazed by the sophisticated Tao behind Chinese Tea culture and the sincere hospitality from the host.

 

The “paper-cut” art exhibition tent looked very exquisite. Many artworks were made live then were hung there for hundreds of envious eyes to enjoy.

 

The “Calligraphy” tent attracted many children to learn this writing technique going all the way back to five thousand years. As can be seen from their serious faces, they were so concentrated on gathering the power of the whole body to control the brush. It will definitely be good in the future.

 

Now back to the stage, the ladies from the Waterloo Women's Association, dressed in cheongsam in different bright colors, were cat-walking on the stage. These ladies were marvelous in these beautiful dresses. They were truly like fairies from a fairyland.

 

The dance by toddlers and kindergartens is always the loveliest one to watch. Besides, who doesn't want to be young again?

 

The performance from Waterloo Chinese Philharmonic Choir club consisted of solo, duet, and chorus. From Puccini to Peking Opera, the audiences really indulged in the atmosphere created by the singers.

 

The Guelph Chinese Association also brought wonderful dance performance. Thanks to the support from the neighboring community!

 

Time flies when you are having fun. As sunset approached, the end of the day was near. Waterloo Concert Band came on the stage and played several classic pieces, while the boys and girls from double dragon martial art club were roaming around with their Kungfu fighting. What a majestic finale!

 

Now it was the time to say “goodbye”! All of the WCCA directors appeared on the stage singing “Little Town Welcomes You!”.

 

The seamless planning by WCCA, the dedicated hard-working volunteers, the enthusiastic people of Waterloo, plus a little bit of luck from the mother nature – these are the very reasons that made the Waterloo Chinese Festival Day debut a huge success.

 

Time flies but memory stays forever. 8.18 - A day worth remembering. We look forward to seeing you again in 2019!