Every September since 2022, the Currents of Windermere closes to vehicle traffic and fills with thousands of visitors, vendors and performers for AsiaFest, a three-day Asian night market. The event’s annual theme, “travel around Asia,” allows organizers to highlight a new destination each year — with 2025 focusing on decorations, cuisine and performances from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Directors Yuki Wong and Alan Chan say that attendance for the event continues to rise. This year — AsiaFest’s fourth — they are expecting over 30,000 visitors.
Their vendor list, too, grows with every festival (from 15 in 2022 to over 100 in 2025). Chan explains that they aim to empower home cooks, aspiring entrepreneurs and newcomers to Canada, giving them a space where they can “test out” their business. Wong and Chan pride themselves on highlighting local cooks and restaurants, rather than big chains and corporations.
“Instead of taking a big financial risk, we want to provide a space where home cooks and newcomers can test out their menus and food items, before heavily investing in a restaurant,” explains Wong.
It’s a model that works: numerous vendors have gone on to open their own ventures after starting out at AsiaFest. There are also existing businesses that come to the festival to increase their exposure — including Satay Madura, Kryptonite (a brand specializing in marinated meats), and many more.
Along with authentic dishes, AsiaFest hums with nightly performances — like the beloved lion dance, taekwondo demonstrations and an ensemble playing Chinese folk music.
Most exciting however, is the extreme eating contest on Friday and Saturday night. The event was such a hit in 2024 that Wong and Chan knew they had to bring it back for a second year.
This year’s competition has contestants attempting to eat 30 dumplings in five minutes (last year it was noodles). The five contestants with the fastest time, or fewest dumplings remaining, move on to the finale where the time limit is the same, but the dumpling count jumps to 50.
So far no one has vomited or tapped out, but last year’s winner, Chan recalls, did have to make a few wardrobe adjustments as he ate. After starting the competition in a full suit, he proceeded to strip off layers of clothing with every bowl of noodles he ate (16 in 10 minutes to be exact). By the end he was down to just his undershirt.
Even though contestants are pushed to the limit, Chan and Wong emphasize that safety is their top priority and nothing goes to waste. Contestants get to take home any uneaten, unopened food. The approach is another reminder of the festival’s emphasis on community, both here in Edmonton and globally. “With AsiaFest,” Wong says, “we want people to experience and connect with new cultures by ‘travelling across the world.’”
AsiaFest is free to attend September 12 – 14. Friday and Saturday from 4 p.m to late, and Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m.
