Shop ’til you drop at an Asian bazaar without leaving Denver!

From the very first year, part of the fun of attending the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival has been the chance to shop in the Asian Marketplace for arts, crafts gifts, toys and clothing, and taste the wonderful variety of cuisines that makes Asian Pacific American culture so special!

In our first year, the Marketplace featured 24 vendors, including only five Food Vendors. The turnout for that first year surprised everyone, including the Festival organizers! The food vendors all had to keep bringing more food from their restaurants and shops, and several simply gave up by mid-afternoon. They ran out of food!

Each year since then, our Asian Marketplace has grown to about 80 exhibitors every year, and over 20 food vendors. The Marketplace has become a center of commerce for the artisans who display their wares, the organizations that set up booths and distribute information, and of course, the restaurants who cook up the world-hopping delights of the Taste of Asia Food Court.

The quality of the food in Taste of Asia is so great, we take the time each year to invite a panel of expert judges to sample the fare and give out Culinary Awards to the best food vendors.

We can say with confidence: We’ll never run out of food again!