By William Kustiono
On May 30, 2013, McDonald’s and the Korean American Family Service Center celebrated Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by presenting a special Asian cultural show at J.H.S 189 Daniel Carter Beard in Flushing. The event showcased traditional and modern-day cultural performances by local Asian American artists that include Indian folk dance, Korean drumming and Fusion between modern hip-hop dance and Chinese martial arts. The event was hosted the McDonalds’s famous mascot: Ronald McDonald, the event also starred special guests including Flushing Councilman Peter Koo and Assemblyman Ron Kim.
Last year, McDonald’s and the Korean American Family Service Center collaborated to present their first Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebrating in Flushing. The event was participated by 500 spectators, the event was even favorably received by parents and children and applauded by Councilman Peter Koo. This year’s show featured additional performances by the student organizations from Baruch College and New York University. Tony Scari, McDonald’s New York Metro Co-op President, mentioned about the event last year was a success and they decided to make this show even grander and superior than last year.
Councilman Peter Koo
Councilman Peter Koo opened the event with an introduction about the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. He also briefly mentioned his experience when he was young celebrating the Heritage event. It was wonderful at that time he explained and now he is looking forward to see the children enjoying the festival. After the opening ceremony, we have a guest speaker, our beloved McDonald’s mascot: Ronald McDonald. The Children screamed and applauded gracefully when Ronald McDonald climbed the stage. As we all know, Ronald McDonald is the trademark mascot of McDonald’s, He has been successfully captivated children and internationally recognized, therefore McDonald’s is using him as an ambassador for the Asian Pacific Heritage Month.
The event was a great success, there were three performances in the event. The Indian Student Association of Baruch College was performing a traditional Indian Dance. Their goal is to increase Indo-American relationships between the Indians and non-Indians.
The New York University Rhythmic Impulse (NYURI) was performing a traditional Korean drum. The group was involved of Korean American students from New York University. NYURI’s goal is to educate and inform the public about the art of traditional Korean drumming through excellent performances and education workshops.
The last performance of the day was by the McDonald’s Martial Arts Dance Crew performing a fusion between hip-hop and kung fu. After the performance, several children could volunteer to participate in the techniques on stage.
Overall, the children were very excited to see these performances and continue to cheer the performance groups. The event was closed with the arrival of Councilman Peter Koo giving Ronald McDonald recognition for his hard work and dedicating his time through out the event. At the end, there was a big picture gathering of the children, Ronald McDonald, and Assemblyman Ron Kim.
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Assemblyman Ron Kim giving Ronald McDonald a certificate
Ronald McDonald received a certificate
J.H.S 189 Daniel Carter Beard Students celebrating the event
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