East met West at Gainesville's Heart of Florida Asian Festival on Sunday.
Held at the historic Thomas Center, the festival showcased aspects of Asian culture, including food, music, art and dance, and allowed Asian-Americans to celebrate their heritage.
The pounding sounds of Japanese Taiko drumming, the potent smells of yellow curry and the prowling neon dragons embodied the different nationalities represented at the festival.
Sections of the Thomas Center's lawn were turned into a food court featuring Asian specialties, a martial arts arena and a stage where acts such as the Sino Elite Acrobatics Group and the UF Bhangra Dance Club performed.
Inside in the Thomas Center's Spanish Court, Indian Dance Medley gave audiences a taste of Bollywood dance and the folk dance Kummi.
In the Long Gallery, guests received an introduction to Chinese painting and Persian calligraphy.
Stewart Thomas, who said he has been doing calligraphy his whole life, gave art demonstrations and tips about the art.
In fluid movements, he painted black strokes onto sheets of rice paper, creating Arabic symbols, Koi fish and Gothic lettering.
"There's a lot to be said of calligraphy as an art form," Thomas said. "Type font used to be rare. Now it's what is actually done by hand that is special."
Gail Liuzzo came from Micanopy with her daughter, Jovanna, 8, to be immersed in another culture.
With a henna tattoo of a flower delicately painted on her hand, Jovanna said she especially liked the Indian culture represented at the festival.
Liuzzo was impressed by the dancing Chinese dragons and the performance by Chinese acrobat Liang.
"It was incredible," Liuzzo said. "She was on a unicycle balancing plates and throwing them up with her foot. She actually caught all of them, three at a time, just pop pop pop."
Last year, Gainesville held a similar but smaller-scale festival that featured only Chinese culture.
After winning Alachua County's Tourist Product Development grant, the city broadened the scope of the festival to all of Asia.
"That grant allowed us to do a lot of the things we hoped we would be able to do," said David Ballard, Gainesville event coordinator and Heart of Florida festival director.
The grant also made free admission to the festival possible.
The city already reserved the Thomas Center for the same weekend next year, and Ballard said the organizers hope to make it a two-day event.
