By John Liu
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

The API Heritage Celebration committee participates in virtual Hum Bow eating contest.
Seattle’s API Heritage Month Celebration went virtual on May 3 with more than 2,300 viewers tuning in on Zoom while streaming on Facebook Live. The API Heritage Month committee prepared for many hours to make sure the show would not have any major technical difficulties, and there were none.
The highlight was the Hum Bow eating competition. Since the competition was virtual, all nine competitors had to acquire his and her own hum bow for the competition—from Safeway, Trader Joe’s, HK Dim Sum Restaurant, Tai Tung Restaurant, Delite Bakery, and Homestyle Dim Sum Restaurant. I was also in the contest and my hum bow was made by my wife, Tracy! Luisa Laulile ended up taking 1st place, while Marci Nakano and Nora Lance took 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. Congratulations!
The hour-long show featured Fei Chua playing the national anthem on his trumpet and Po Leapai singing an original song, called “Love Exposed.” There was also a video of past performances. Patranya Bhoolsuwan addressed attacks on Asians, specifically the hate stickers found in Seattle’s Chinatown in April.
John Chen, the emcee, best summed up the API Heritage Month Celebration.
“I’m so impressed with the team work to put on a well-structured and highly-viewed program. I think it embodies API values, such as hard work, planning, and collaboration. I believe we represented much of the API well during the program. The Quarantine Karaoke competition starts this weekend, go to quarantinekaraoke.eventbrite.com to sign up.”
The Quarantine Karaoke competition will be on May 9, May 16, and May 23 from 9-11 p.m. Winners of each day get $25, and the finalists will compete on May 30 for a $75 top prize!
If you missed the show on May 3 and would like to get future updates, check out facebook.com/apiheritage.
John can be reached at john@nwasianweekly.com.