Hmong International New Year Foundation Inc

Happy New Year! I go to Hmong New Year every year, it’s a tradition for me! I love to see old friends and family that I haven’t seen in years. It’s always packed with many people from all over the globe. If you have never been, you should go and experience it at least once, never know, you may go back! You have to try the food and maybe just talk to the elders, they have great stories! Lots of activities going on, from dancing, singing and Hmong pageant as well.

This is not the Hmong New Year I knew as a kid. 40 years ago, my parents were displaced by the Vietnam War. When they arrived in the U.S. they didn’t have much. They didn’t have money, they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t have a country to go home to. What they did have was family and their culture. In order to hold onto that, all the Hmong people of the community would celebrate the Hmong New Year. The families would pool their money together to rent a small hall. The mothers would make trays and trays of food for a community potluck. The daughters would practice for months our traditional dances for entertainment. Young guys and girls would look forward to when they could openly flirt during the ball tossing event. The elders or the church leader would grab the mic and talk for hours and hours about our history while the kids snuck outside to go to the «bathroom». After we ate, the local hmong band would play or we’d just toss in someone’s mix tape and we’d dance and dance all night long. There were games for kids, everyone had an opportunity to feature their talent, women would fawn over each other’s woven garments and jewelry, there was something for everyone at the Hmong New Year.
This is less Hmong New year, more week-​long Farmer’s Market event. It’s located at the Fresno Fairgrounds. There’s free off street parking or there are houses where you can pay to park on lawns. We arrived at 2pm on the first day. Whatever happened during the day was over. The indoor stage was empty. Everyone was outside buying stuff. There are medicine vendors, clothing vendors, food vendors. The noise is unbearable. Each vendor is trying to get more attention than the other so they have their music on full blast, you can barely hear yourself talking to the person next to you. This is an outdoor event! You can’t escape the noise, every single vendor is blasting some kinda noise from their loud speakers.
Guys and girls are walking around in full hmong gear. They just walk and walk around in a circle buying stuff. That’s all there is to do there. There was an outdoor stage but it was just a guy on a mic, most likely telling some type of story to youngsters about listening to parents. I saw thousand girls and guys tossing balls to one an other but no one was really paying attention to that. Back in the day the ball tossing would be an event where they got center stage. Center stage here is merchandise and food.
Food entrees were all $ 10. Most of vendors were selling the same thing. Grilled meat, rice, meatballs, Hmong sausage and papaya salad. I saw one or two vendors selling larb and I saw a Hmong food truck so that was neat. We ordered a grilled pork and sticky rice dish. It was good and enough to share for 3. The chili sauce on the side was super hot and delicious but it’s not that hard to make. The portion size of the chili was super super tiny. Like thumbnail size tiny. I don’t think it was overpriced but it wasn’t a particularly unique dish. This is every day food, not so much celebratory food. Desserts ranged from $ 8 to $ 1. It sweet sticky rice, mangos, navan — a coconut and tapioca dessert -, blended boba drinks. It was ok. Nothing I couldn’t easily find in LA. And definitely not the food our mothers made for the potluck.
Around 5pm the place was clearing out. I heard that people come back around 8pm after they’ve changed for the late night party. I believe there is drinking and dancing involved? My cousins in Fresno tipped me off that if you want the deals go on the last day when everything is discounted and the vendors are willing to bargain.
It’s nice to see a huge community of Hmong celebrating the new year but this is more about capitalism than culture. It is a shame because the Hmong community of my childhood was a giving, generous and family-​centric community. There’s a $ 4 entrance fee which would deter me from coming back. Come here to buy stuff. Cash only.

I love Asian culture but I would say I love the Hmong or the Miaozu culture, really organization and friendly people. The Hmong New Year is a blessing to meet and colorful. I recommend this place to visit! Only happen a year!

Something I do whenever I come up here during this time of year. The wife and her family come here every year. It’s ehhh ok. Nothing special but a few things to see and a place to go walk around in a town that’s otherwise not got too many things going on.

Yay Happy Hmong new year! Sadly, I didn’t even know the Hmong ethnicity existed until 5 years ago when I went to college. I had never met anyone Hmong before so I really didn’t know much at all about Hmong culture.
But the Hmong festival was really informative and it was cool to see all of the colorful traditional attire and music. I got to try some Hmong food (there’s lots of vendors!) and watch that cute tennis ball tossing game.
The Hmong festival is definitely bigger and more organized than the Cambodian and Tet new year festivals I’ve been to!

pretty much the same as any other festival, but for hmong people. lots of repetitious food stands and vendors. you can get fried pigeon, which was pretty tasty — kind of like duck but gamier. lots of traditional garb. constant threat of gang problems isn’t cool, but then again, it is the fresno fairgrounds so i should expect it.

Great place to go to see Hmong people dressed in their traditional clothes, as well as to see new styles coming out every year. People from all over the States as well as some out of country come to join in on this New Year Celebration in Fresno. It’s a place for the younger generation to hang out during their winter breaks. The older people go there to watch dance performances as well as listen to some people sing. There are also lots of people who like to toss ball in the middle of the fair grounds.
Food area is filled with bbq’s and many types of Asian cuisine. There is a lot of smoke in that area from all the bbq grills so you may end up smelling like smoke after you have finished walking through that area. I do love the variety of foods available however. Among those varieties are phở, bbq whole chicken, bbq Hmong sausage w/​sticky rice, bbq fish, and some Thai/​Lao varieties. I love the fried banana and what better time to find some of the best tasting papaya salad! Oh before I forget to mention they also have a variety of Asian sweets for sale, one of my favorites include the tapioca pearls.
There is also a wide array of low budget Hmong films for sale as well as new ones that were just released. Many booths sell music cd’s from Hmong artists. There are also Hmong traditional clothing outfits that are available for sale as well as regular clothing.
This is a great place to go to spend some time if you have nothing to do after Christmas and want to check it out. Great food, lots of people, good place to barter. Just make sure you have an umbrella ready since it does rain sometimes during the celebration.