San Francisco Celebrates 24th Annual AT&T Autumn Moon Festival

Crowds of People Expected to Attend the Annual Chinatown Event

Once again, the historic streets of Chinatown on Grant Avenue will be transformed into a lively, colorful pedestrian bazaar for the 24th Annual AT&T Autumn Moon Festival from September 6-7, 2014. Hosted by the Chinatown Merchants Association, this event will be filled with fun arts and crafts booths, cultural exhibits, children's activities, authentic food, corporate sponsors and non-stop entertainment. The festivities open with a grand parade on Saturday at 11 a.m. on California and Grant led by Mayor Ed Lee, civic officials, beauty queens, cultural performers and lion dancers. The famous Dragon appears on Sunday at 5 p.m. as the grand finale of the event. The Moon Festival attracts throngs of local residents and tourists from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. This event originally started in 1991 by a group of merchants to revitalize Chinatown businesses. Since then, the Festival has continued to flourish year after year.

The Festival is excited to have AT&T once again as a Title Sponsor. This is the 9th year that AT&T has partnered with the Chinatown Merchants Association to celebrate this significant festival. Guests can try the latest mobile devices an interactive mobile app, and test their U-verse knowledge by playing our live U-verse Game Show. Participants who visit the booth will also have the chance to receive free giveaways while supplies last. AT&TÕs contribution to the Festival is another example of their longstanding commitment to the Asian community.

For visitors unfamiliar with the Asian tradition of the Moon Festival, this event is a unique opportunity to participate in cultural festivities unlike any other in the world. Chinese opera performers commingle with martial artists, and contemporary pop groups perform alongside traditional dancers. Attendees will have a taste of true cultural diversity of this unique San Francisco neighborhood.

Dog Fashion Show
New to this year's event, the Festival will present a Dog Fashion Show. Join participants and dress up your dog to show it off to the crowd. A jury along with the audience will select the winners. Jury to be announced later. Awards will be given to the dog with the best costume.

Photo Contest
This year the festival will also host a Photo Contest with cash prizes and an exhibition of the top entries. Entry is free and open to the public. Simply send up to 3 photos (300dpi, 2MB or larger) of scenes from San Francisco Chinatown to info@moonfestival.org to enter.

Bargains Galore
This Chinatown festival will be a shopper's bargain paradise. Thousands of Asian arts and crafts, housewares, plants, jewelry, and beauty products will be for sale at special prices in well-stocked booths covering several city blocks. Several vendors will be on hand to sell a large assortment of the traditional mooncakes. Several vendors will offer unique ethnic foods. In addition, sponsors will be on-hand to provide free gifts, games, and raffles.

1,000 Year Old Asian Tradition
Moon Festival celebrations, though still relatively new to the U.S., have been held throughout Asia for well over 1,000 years. This holiday is a time to reflect upon the bounty of the summer harvest, the fullness of the moon, and the myth of the immortal moon Goddess, Chang O, who lives in the moon. The Moon Festival is often compared to a “Chinese Thanksgiving” because of its spirit of gratitude and its inclusion of abundant food Ñ including the popular moon cakes. Moon cakes are round, flaky, semi-sweet pastries filled with bean or lotus-seed paste and topped with a duck egg, echoing the shape of the full moon. Millions of moon cakes are gifted around the time of the Moon Festival.

This event is free, and festival attendees are encouraged to use public transportation. For more information, please call (415) 982-6306. Or visit online at moonfestival.org or Facebook at SFCMA.

If you are interested in participating as a street vendor, please contact Bert Lee at 415-690-9225 or bleemoonfestival@yahoo.com.