Harvest Moon Festival aims to bring AAPI communities together 

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Rochester boasts, among its many other distinctions, a reputation as a festival city. John Ra clocked that quickly after moving here from Los Angeles in 2006.

“There’s a Puerto Rican festival, a Ukrainian festival, a Greek festival,” Ra said. “Early last year, I was like, ‘I would like to try to get our Asian American community together.’”

The best way to do that? A festival, of course.

Ra, the chair of the Rochester chapter of Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs (APAPA), helped organize the first Rochester Harvest Moon Festival, which returns for its second year on Saturday, Sept. 21 on Schoen Place in Pittsford.

“We Koreans, we call it our Thanksgiving,” Ra said, because the celebration falls during harvest season.

But the fair’s scope is much wider than a single culture. Several AAPI communities celebrate similar harvest-season holidays, like the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival) in China.

Likewise, the fete cannot be contained to one cuisine. The KO-BQ Korean Fusion Grill food truck will mingle with JiBeiChuan’s rice noodles and ramen bowls, alongside bubble tea, Filipino fare and Burmese options.

Rochester’s version of Harvest Moon also features workshops, martial arts, music and dance. Ra said it’s a way to bring different local underrepresented communities together under one metaphorical festival tent.

Around 33,000 AAPI community members reside in Monroe County, compared to more than 521,000 white residents, according to 2020 census data. Last September, new legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul made Asian Lunar New Year — typically in January or February — a public school holiday across New York State.

“We’re all really connecting and learning about each other’s culture, and at the same time, we’re making a huge impact in our local community here in Pittsford,” he said.

Ra began chairing the APAPA in March 2023. He said the success of last year’s inaugural Harvest Moon Festival prompted APAPA to organize a similar bash for Lunar New Year, held at MCC in February.

Ra is also the owner and Chief Master of Agape Black Belt Center in Pittsford. His wife, Joanna, and three children are also involved in the martial arts organization, both in instruction and operations.

The Ra family relocated to Rochester in search of what he calls “a better life.” Ra followed his sister, who was pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Rochester along with her husband. They eventually returned to California, but John, Joanna and their then-small children stuck around.

Agape opened in 2007 on Elton Street before moving to Oak Hill Commons on Monroe Avenue and eventually to its current home next to Pittsford Town Court.

“We’re still here. We’ve been here for 18 years,” Ra said. “I’m very fortunate to live my dream.”

Rochester Harvest Moon Festival returns to Schoen Place in Pittsford on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Find more information here.

Patrick Hosken is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].