The Asian Student Alliance (ASA) held their fourth annual Night Market on Feb. 22. ASA is a University of Redlands student organization founded in 2015 that celebrates Asian cultures with several events throughout the year. This club is open to all students, including those without Asian heritage.
“It’s a chance for students to get to know each other, connect with others on campus and with alumni and find a place where they feel heard during their college experience,” ASA President Tracy Lam ‘25 and Treasurer Jenna Overmeer ‘25 said in a subsequent interview.
The ASA cabinet members shared that the Night Market was started to raise campus awareness about cultural diversity. One of ASA’s biggest events, it also draws attention to their organization.
“It’s an amazing night that works to make the Asian community at Redlands feel seen and gives everyone the opportunity to try amazing foods from all around Asia,” they said.
Preparing for the Night Market, Lam and Overmeer said, is a year-long process. Budgeting, booth leader sign-ups, donation requests and other logistics start in fall semester. Students who want to represent their culture sign up to be booth leaders, resulting in a slightly different spread of countries each year.
Each booth leader assumes the responsibility of designing the menu, including the dishes offered, serving sizes and stamp price. They are also in charge of decorating their booth and making or catering the food.
Lily Phanthavong ‘26, who joined ASA as a freshman, was the Laos booth leader this year. She said the Night Market encouraged her to stick with ASA her freshman year and inspired her to become more involved in the organization.
During the spring semester, performances are planned out and booth leaders get their food handler’s licenses. Volunteer opportunities, such as assisting with booths and set-up, are also posted. When the big day finally rolls around, tasks are finalized as booth leaders prepare their dishes and decorations.
“Four of our cabinet members cooked in a Brockton apartment every day for three days, including the day of the Night Market,” Lam and Overmeer said.
Each booth is allotted a budget for making or catering food. Lam and Overmeer explained that this event is funded by previous Night Markets, RSG funds, fundraising events and donations from the Johnston center and diversity organizations.
One of the local businesses that ASA members partnered with was Nate’s Desserts, a bakery in Eastvale, for the Japanese booth’s Ube and Matcha Brownies.
Photo Credit: Frank Perez, University of Redlands Marketing and Communications photographer
“We loved their concept of creating traditional American desserts that are fused with Asian flavors,” the ASA cabinet members said.
Lam and Overmeer said this year’s event went better than previous ones.
“One major decision we made this year was to rent easy-up tents for each booth,” they said, “which really set the tone of the event and enabled us to hang up stringed lights to make this event truly feel like an Asian street market.”
They were also excited about the large turnout, as most booths had completely sold out.
Photo Credit: Student Photographer Zoe Anderson ‘25
Along with this Night Market, other ASA events include a Lunar New Year celebration and KBBQ, with bi-weekly meetings from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the Hunsaker Multicultural Center. Lam and Overmeer said all are welcome to attend these meetings, which highlight Asian culture and create a bonding space. You can stay up to date on ASA events by following their Instagram page @asaredlands.
McKenzie Rose is a freshman at Redlands with interests in Environmental Studies and Journalism. She worked for the last three years as a freelance journalist with the Hermiston Herald, a newspaper near her hometown of Echo, Oregon. She is looking forward to covering the interesting, the exciting, and the intriguing happenings at the university for the Redlands Bulldog!
