The inaugural year of Denver's Mile High Asian Food Week (AFW) was such a success that organizers are running it back next year.
The week-long celebration of Colorado's growing Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) culinary scene will return April 28 to May 4, 2024, this time kicking off AANHPI Heritage month in May.
Vendor registration for the 2024 Mile High AFW will open later this year on November 1.
What was originally just an idea that was expected to draw 10-15 food vendors quickly ballooned into an event that had dozens of participating restaurants and food purveyors.
"We just weren't sure what to expect," said Chea Franz, spokesperson for Mile High Asian Food Week. "We thought 10 to 15 would be great and so to cap it off at 50 when all was said and done just blew our expectations."
Participating restaurants offered secret menu options, specialty menus and discounts to customers who mentioned AFW.
Led by Joanne Liu, co-founder of the Asian Girl Ignite, a nonprofit that works to connect AANPHI women across ages with mentorship and social ties, the entire team behind AFW was entirely women-led and 100% Asian American Pacific Islander.
"Honestly, from our humble beginnings of wanting to launch an Asian food week to share with others our culture and food, Mile High Asian Food Week has become so much more than that," Liu said. "It gave our AANHPI food service community a chance to collaborate and swap stories with one another. For as much as we felt the public needed this we realized we needed this too."
Franz credited the success of this year's AFW to its on-the-ground work that the volunteer team led. She noted that many of the small AANPHI-owned businesses might have language barriers or simply don't the bandwidth to seek out opportunities like this.
"I think between direct outreach and then word of mouth, it just turned into a perfect combination to get those [food vendor] numbers up," Franz said.
Annie Guo VanDan, president of Asian Avenue Magazine and a big part of their outreach efforts, spoke about the community reception.
"The reception that we received, both from participating vendors and diners, have invigorated us to keep the food week going-and make it bigger and better," says VanDan. "Our hope is to further the appreciation of Asian cuisines by encouraging community members to try new foods and learn about local businesses."
AFW organizers are hoping to find bilingual volunteers who can run the "street team" that will help spread the word come next year.
Those interested in volunteering next year can sign up here.
"So much of the stories that kept coming up during [AFW] were stories of food and family and how food is a form of affection, care, protection," Franz said. "I kept seeing a common theme of food being a source of comfort. It became such a community building thing."
A Mile High Asian Food Week newsletter, featuring vendor stories, updates and other highlights from the AANHPI culinary scene, is also available for those wanting to stay up-to-date.
