The New England Hong Kong Festival, set for Sunday (its rain date) in Somerville’s Davis Square, hopes to bring together Hong Konger and Asian American and Pacific Islander community members from throughout Eastern Massachusetts – at the least, organizers said.
“We’re the first Hong Kong festival in the East Coast,” said Natalie Ng, an organizer of the festival. “Although many people have connections to Hong Kong, a lot of people speak Cantonese, a lot of people grew up around Hong Kong culture, there isn’t a place specifically to celebrate this and to bring Hong Kongers or people who grew up around this culture together.”
The inaugural festival was in 2024 in Somerville’s Union Square. Despite having to switch to a rain date, the festival still drew more than 2,000 people. “This year, the festival is bigger, the space is slightly larger, the festival is longer. Last year it was four hours, this year it is six hours, and we have triple the performers and double the vendors,” Ng said.
Performers this year include Woo Ching Lion Dance, music from bands such as Juk Sing and Socafe and poetry readings from the Newton Cantonese School. Vendors include Room 4 Sweets, Rensauce BBQ and Hygge, among many others.
The festival plans to include mahjong, Dragon Boat festival-themed games, the classic Hong Kong Rainbow Game, a photo booth, button making and trivia about Cantopop – pop music sung in Cantonese – and the Cantonese language. (The theme of this year’s festival is street signs: Organizers have created a newspaper showing street names shared between New England and Hong Kong.)
“We also were very intentional in the curation of the activities. We wanted to make sure that even if you don’t spend money, there are still things that you can do,” Ng said. “We have a lot of free games.”
The festival’s origins date back to 2019 and a group of Somerville Hong Kongers organizing events such as screenings, hiking trips, potlucks. They “had this idea that we should do something bigger and share this culture that we all love to a wide audience,” leading to outreach to the city of Somerville for collaboration, Ng said.
Last year’s Union Square location brought a lot of foot traffic to the local businesses, Ng said, and this year Davis Square is expected to benefit.
“Some of the people who live in Quincy or Malden have never been to Somerville or Davis Square specifically before, so we’re really excited for them to also explore the neighborhood, just because there’s so much happening in the square. There’s movie theaters, there’s pubs, there’s restaurants,” Ng said.
The impact of the festival stretches beyond the Somerville community, connecting New England Hong Kongers with each other and providing a place to celebrate and practice their culture.
“I’ve had many people tell me they’re really excited for Hong Kong fest because they feel like there’s a festival that they feel a sense of belonging in,” Ng said. “They feel so seen and heard because most people speak Cantonese, and they hear the music that they grew up listening to or know of.”
New England Hong Kong Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Seven Hills Park, Davis Square, Somerville. Free to enter.
This post was updated to move the festival to its rain date of Sunday.
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