• About
  • Events
  • Community Calendar
  • Advertise
  • Subscriptions
  • Contact
  • Seattle Chinese Post

Northwest Asian Weekly


  • Community
    • Names in the News
    • Local
    • Business
    • Pictorials
    • Obituaries
  • Nation
  • World
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Columns
    • On the Shelf
    • At the Movies
    • A-POP!
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • The Layup Drill
    • Travel
    • Wayne’s Worlds
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentary
    • Publisher Ng’s blog
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Astrology
  • Classifieds
  • Community Calendar
You are here: Home / News / Community News / Features / Northwest Asian Weekly celebrates its 30th anniversary

Northwest Asian Weekly celebrates its 30th anniversary

October 11, 2012 By Northwest Asian Weekly

By Charles Lam
The Northwest Asian Weekly

https://i0.wp.com/nwasianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/31_42/slide_anniversary.jpg?resize=476%2C240

Gubernatorial candidates Rob McKenna and Jay Inslee led the dragon dance that opened the event. (Photo by Hut Kwan)

The Northwest Asian Weekly celebrated its 30th anniversary last Friday, Oct. 5, with about 650 guests at the Seattle Sheraton hotel ballroom. The gala was part dinner, part benefit, part variety show, and part celebration, featuring entertainment from six different individuals and performance groups, an auction benefitting the International District Emergency Center, and a roast of NWAW Publisher Assunta Ng.

The gala opened with a dragon dance led by gubernatorial candidates Rob McKenna and Jay Inslee bringing guests into the dining room. The dance was followed by an introduction from hosts Molly Shen and Andy Wappler, KOMO news anchor and former KIRO chief meteorologist, respectively.

After a Filipino choir performed the national anthem, guests sat down to a three-course dinner, featuring tea-smoked chicken, braised black cod, flourless bittersweet chocolate cake, and strawberry mochi.

During dinner, guests bid on their table centerpieces and participated in a live auction with all proceeds going toward charity. The live auction raised about $3,000 for the IDEC and featured a pearl and agate necklace donated by Frank Lau Jewelry, a signed jersey and VIP tickets to a Sounders FC game donated by Vulcan Incorporated, pearl earrings donated by Ben Bridge Jeweler, and a professional table tennis table and lesson donated by the Seattle Pacific Table Tennis Club.

Before the live auction, guests were entertained by a bhangra performance from Rhythms of India, a Kung Fu demonstration by Master Hong Yijiao, a Korean fan dance by Morning Star, a performance of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” by Bob Santos, and, most notably, a roast of NWAW Publisher Assunta Ng.

Six of Publisher Ng’s oldest friends appeared on stage before the live auction to roast her, taking their best shots at her aggressiveness, drive, and sharing their favorite stories, including hassling diners in restaurants for donations to the Olympic Sculpture Park and convincing Mayor Norm Rice to appoint more Asians and Asian Americans to his administration. The roasters included CenturyLink’s Jane Nishita, former King County Executive Ron Sims, former Seattle Art Museum Director Mimi Gates, Seattle real estate agent Thach Nguyen, former Seattle City Councilmember Dolores Sibonga, and King County Executive Dow Constantine.

After the roast, Publisher Ng took the stage herself to rebuke the roasters and poke fun at herself, including lamenting that she could only attract two gubernatorial candidates instead of two governors and the fact that she has “no vision” other than to keep the Northwest Asian Weekly in print.

“I don’t know how to do anything except the news business,” she admitted. “In fact, I don’t want to do anything else. I love journalism.”

The gala closed with an a capella performance of “La Bamba” by Washington State Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez and a Happy Birthday song, celebrating the birth of the newspaper, Publisher Ng, and everyone else in attendance.

The Northwest Asian Weekly would like to thank the organizations that sponsored the event, purchased tables, donated gift baskets, raffle items, party favors, and auction items, as well as its readers, subscribers, and supporters for the past 30 years.  (end)

Charles Lam can be reached at charles@nwasianweekly.com.

Share:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Features, Community News Tagged With: 2012, Andy Wappler, Frank Lau Jewelry, Jay Inslee, KIRO, King County Executive Ron Sims, La Bamba, Louis Armstrong, Master Hong Yijiao, Mayor Norm Rice, Molly Shen, Olympic Sculpture Park, Publisher Ng, Rob McKenna, Seattle Art Museum Director Mimi Gates, Seattle City Councilmember Dolores Sibonga, Seattle Pacific Table Tennis Club, Seattle Sheraton, Vol 31 No 42 | October 13 - October 19, Vulcan Incorporated, jersey

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Find us on Issuu!

Subscribe to our e-news

Front pages

Biden awards Medal of Honor for Vietnam heroism

Lori Matsukawa: Recipient of Japanese Emperor’s Rising Sun Award—A celebration of the Japanese Americans’ achievements

Local community benefits from man’s pickleball passion

Norman Mineta, transportation secretary in 9/11 era, dies

UW bioethicist calls for justice in distributing global COVID treatments

Community members urge support for SPD hiring bonuses

PICTORIAL: AAPI Heritage Celebration

“Celebrate Asia” 2022 encourages a community to move forward, together

Biden COVID coordinators leaving in April, Jha to take over

Long COVID: the disease that cannot be described

More of Last Week's Front Page

© 2022 NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
412 MAYNARD AVE. S., SEATTLE, WA 98104
206-223-5559 | INFO@NWASIANWEEKLY.COM