At one point on June 27 we had music coming from three stages of the APA program at the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. At 1:15 p.m., Kathy Gong was singing on the Talkstory stage to show how she makes history entertaining for audiences of all ages, members of the Halau Ho'omau I Ka Wai Ola O Hawai'i were playing ukulele and singing in the Family Activities area, and participants from the Sutradar Institute were playing their music from India on the Asian Fusions stage.

Paiboon Uthikamporn continued one of the most interesting projects at the Talkstory stage, which is to teach a little bit about the languages of Asia and the Pacific Islands each day. In teaching about the five tones used in the Thai language (low, mid, rising, high, and falling), he used as an example the phrase mai mai mai mai mai. With appropropriate tones, the phrase means "new wood does not burn, does it?"

We enjoyed the cooking traditions of Americans of Cambodian, Indian, Nepalese, and Thai descent, and a full day of crafts, games, and music from Halau Ho'omau. In the evening, the Hakka Association of Washington, D.C., joined the Halau Ho'omau for a joyous, uplifting celebration in song and dance.

Phil Tajitsu Nash is the curator of the Asian Pacific Americans program at the 2010 Folklife Festival.