Get a Taste of Asian Culture and Cuisine at Panda Fest
The three-day event will take place this September.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PANDA FEST
Here it is in black and white: Panda Fest is coming to Pittsburgh.
One of the nation’s biggest outdoor celebrations of Asian cuisine and culture will take place rain or shine Sept. 18-20 at the Station Square Parking Lot, 73 E. Carson St. Tickets are available online.
More than 80 vendors will serve authentic street food representing cuisines from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and beyond, along with inventive fusions. Attendees will also find art, an Asian marketplace, traditional and contemporary performances, hands-on activities and a 15-foot-tall inflatable panda.
According to founder BiuBiu Xu, 40% of the vendors will be local.
A native of China, she moved to New York City a decade ago. While studying for her master’s degree in accounting, Xu started a food blog that explored Asian restaurants and entertainment around the Big Apple.
“Since I’m from Asia, I wanted to do something related to my culture and knowledge,” she says.
By 2018, the blog had grown into a brand that specialized in pop-up exhibitions such as The Egg House, an immersive experience that went viral in New York and expanded to Los Angeles, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In 2022, Xu hatched the idea for Panda Fest and assembled a team to bring it to fruition. What started as a New York City street fair ballooned into 13 events across 11 cities and welcomed 500,000 attendees in 2024.
Pittsburgh is the 18th city to host Panda Fest, which recently donated $25,000 to the San Diego Zoo’s panda care and conservation program. Xu, a lifelong panda enthusiast, says she’s planning to contribute to similar programs in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium has a resident red panda named Ruby, who also serves as the facility’s mascot.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PANDA FEST
Xu says she has friends who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University who are passionate about Pittsburgh’s culinary scene, which is why she wanted to bring Panda Fest to the Steel City.
Will Pittsburgh’s Panda Fest be an annual event?
“We want to make this magic continue,” Xu says.
