By Jill Riley, Communications Assistant, PacNWC
On Saturday, January 21st, Pastor Ted Yuen and many members of McMinnville Covenant Church participated in a Lunar New Year celebration. Pastor Ted is part of a newly formed group called the “Asian Heritage Association”, which hosted the event. The celebration was held at a large Asian-owned business in town called Mac Market. This was the organization’s first public event and “blew away expectations.” Online pre-registration sold out at 700 but had many more attendees than that. The mayor came to kick off the event, telling the story of Asians in Yamhill County, including the history of discrimination and exclusion.
Jean Thompson, who is Chinese and attends the Covenant Church, headed up a dumpling-making team at the church. Church members and members of the community made 500 dumplings which sold out in two hours.
There were many Asian-owned vendors selling products, cultural groups leading a Lion Dance, a Tai Chi demonstration, and lots of activities for kids. According to Yuen “For a small community that has an Asian population of less than 2%, this was a landmark event that connected the Asian community with the entire community. There was a sense of joy and celebration throughout the day. It felt like shalom.”
CLICK For more information on the history of the Chinese people in McMinnville.