Thank you to everyone who joined us for
Hoa Mai Blooming this summer!
More than 200 community members gathered at Hoa Mai Park to enjoy a vibrant outdoor market celebrating unique Southeast Asian flavors, businesses and community in the heart of Little Saigon. Throughout the day, visitors explored local vendors and grocers, enjoyed specialty food and drinks, listened to live DJs Balik 2 Bayan, received free live drawn portraits by artist Onion Comics, and learned about composting through hourly demonstrations from Restaurant 2 Garden.
The line for free portraits stayed busy throughout the day, and thanks to grant funding, visitors will once again be able to enjoy complimentary live portraits at our next Hoa Mai Blooming on July 11. Guests also picked up free Hoa Mai Blooming stickers, got limited-edition posters by collecting stamps from three vendors, and shopped our Little Saigon Icons T-shirt, designed in-house by Friends of Little Sài Gòn’s Arts & Culture team.
Using food scraps and materials from vendors, Restaurant 2 Garden (R2G) showcased how community partnerships can help create a more sustainable neighborhood. Since launching in 2022, R2G has diverted thousands of pounds of food waste from landfills while supporting community gardens throughout the Chinatown-International District. This year, the organization is expanding into Little Saigon with a new composting site that will help serve even more neighborhood businesses.
This event would not have been possible without our incredible volunteers who spent the day helping everything run smoothly despite the summer heat. Thank you for your time and energy to make Hoa Mai Park a welcoming experience for everyone. We’re currently looking for volunteers for our next Hoa Mai Blooming on Saturday, July 11th – we’d love to have you join us! Register below!
Events like Hoa Mai Blooming help activate Hoa Mai Park as a welcoming gathering space where neighbors, families, and visitors can connect and explore Little Saigon. By bringing people together in the park, we’re continuing to build a vibrant, thriving neighborhood that celebrates its culture and community.
A special thank you to our June 13 vendors:
Lam’s Seafood
Natalie’s Sugarcane & Dessert
Calmette Viet
KHOBO
Dragonfly
Spin Drip Cafe
Thank you again to everyone who attended, volunteered, and supported our first market of the season. We can’t wait to see you back at Hoa Mai Park on Saturday, July 11th from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM for another day of food, music, and community!
Can’t make it? Join us later this summer with Celebrate Little Saigon, our annual neighborhood block party, on Saturday, August 15!
This event is supported by 4Culture, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and Amazon.
About Friends of Little Sài Gòn & Hoa Mai Park:
Friends of Little Sài Gòn was established in 2011 at the start of massive redevelopment in Little Saigon. Our mission is to preserve and enhance Little Saigon’s cultural, economic, and historic vitality. Little Saigon is the hub of the Vietnamese American community, where all families and businesses are thriving.
Opened in 2024, Hoa Mai Park is a community gathering space in the heart of Seattle’s Little Saigon. Friends of Little Sài Gòn has been involved in the park development process since 2010, when Little Saigon was identified as having the least amount of green space per capita in Seattle.
As one of Friends of Little Sài Gòn’s earliest projects, Hoa Mai Park represents a long-term investment in the neighborhood’s cultural, social, and physical vitality. Today, the park serves as a welcoming hub for community events and public gatherings in Little Saigon.
Whether visitors are longtime neighborhood residents or discovering Little Saigon for the first time, we envision Hoa Mai Park as a thriving cultural hub where Little Saigon’s community traditions flourish and where residents, community members, and visitors can gather and make meaningful connections and preserve their cultural identity.
With bamboo, trees, a playground, a monumental sculpture by Kalina Chung, and open event space, Hoa Mai Park serves as a growing cultural hub for residents and visitors alike. Through markets, performances, and future park improvements, Friends of Little Sài Gòn hopes to continue activating the space while supporting the small businesses that make Little Saigon unique.