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Dancers at last year's Thai Food Festival performed on Murphy Avenue, which the city temporarily closed. Planners expect up to 30,000 people this year.

Thai Food Festival planners anticipate a large crowd

By Steve Enders

The second annual Thai Food Festival will set up camp at the Town & Country Village Shopping Center in Sunnyvale this weekend, transforming the center's parking lot into a small city for two days.

Festival organizer Jua Rattanaphun expects almost 30,000 people to attend the Mother's Day weekend event. Last year, more than 10,000 turned out for Thai Food Festival '97 to acquire a taste of the culture.

"We invite everyone to come down and learn about a different culture--a unique culture," he said. "We're bringing Thailand here."

The festival will feature spicy and not-so-spicy Thai food, cool drinks, music and dance, a beauty pageant and a Thai boxing exhibition. A raffle will also be held, with two airline tickets to Thailand as the grand prize.

Rattanaphun is the owner of Thai Basil, a popular downtown Sunnyvale restaurant that serves authentic Thai cuisine. He said 17 booths, including one for his own restaurant, will be set up in the lot to serve food and drinks. Thai chefs from all over the Bay Area will come to present their fare to the public, he said.

According to Rattanaphun, the event closely coincides with the Thai New Year celebration called SongKran, which is celebrated by Thai people April 12-14. The winner of the festival beauty pageant will be dubbed "Miss SongKran."

In addition to the beauty pageant, the Thai boxing demonstration is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, Rattanaphun said. Thai boxing takes kickboxing to the next level, as just about anything goes, he explained. Besides using their fists and feet, combatants are allowed to use elbows and forearms to strike their opponents.

Rattanaphun, a former journalist from Thailand, said approximately 300,000 Thais live in California. Many have come to live in the Bay Area to work in the high-tech field. He said the event was organized in part to help foster continuing good relations between the United States and Thailand.

At the festival, representatives from Thai International Airways and the Tourism Authority of Thailand will be on hand to provide information on travel to the country. Because of recent economic woes in Thailand and the rest of Asia, Rattanaphun said, people have become wary of traveling to the region.

Donna Eaton, spokeswoman for the Palace nightclub in Sunnyvale, said she's excited about the festival because last year's was done well.

"It's different--it's exciting to have an ethnic festival to come to in downtown Sunnyvale," she said. "The food is great. The more publicity for [Murphy Avenue], the better."

The second annual Thai Food Festival will take place May 9-10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Town & Country Village Shopping Center is located on the corner of Mary and Washington avenues.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 6, 1998.
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