UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
CENTER FOR LOWELL HISTORY
LOWELL SOUTHEAST ASIAN WATER FESTIVAL, INC. COLLECTION, 1997-2014
UML 20
EXTENT:13 computer files
ABSTRACT:
This collection includes digitized Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc. general files, event programs, and promotional materials.
The collection is available for viewing: https://umlseada.omeka.net/collections/show/18.
The Southeast Asian Water Festival in Lowell began as a project funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Planning for the first event began in late 1996 with the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell, Inc., the City of Lowell Health Department, the Laotian American Organization, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Center for Family, Work and Community as organizational members of the original working group.
The first Southeast Asian Water Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, was celebrated on Saturday, August 23, 1997 at the Sampas Pavilion on the banks of the Merrimack River. It attracted approximately 10,000 people and is believed to have been the first water festival of its kind outside of Asia. Through the years, the length of the festival has varied with celebrations including just a Saturday or a Friday and Saturday of programming.
Today, thousands from across the United States continue to attend this annual festival. Held every third Saturday in August, the festival includes stages for performances; booths for vendors to share information and sell art, crafts, food, and drinks; and a boat race competition on the Merrimack River. The festival continues to take place at the Sampas Pavilion.
In 2002, representatives of Lowell’s Khmer, Thai, Vietnamese, and Lao communities incorporated the Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc. as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation, protection and sharing of cultural heritages of the Southeast Asian Americans in the Greater Lowell area of Massachusetts.
Information gathered from the Southeast Asian Water Festival website (https://lowellwaterfestival.org/), from the collection Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater Lowell, Inc. Publications, 1997-2007. UML19, and from this collection.
This collection includes digitized Lowell Southeast Asian Water Festival, Inc. materials including general files, event programs, and promotional materials. Most of the materials are in English with some Khmer (Cambodian) and Lao. The original source materials are believed to have been from Ali, Mehmed. Asian-American Collection, circa 1974-2017. UML 14.
The collection is broadly organized into two areas:
Event Programs and Promotional Materials, 1997-2007
These documents include flyers, posters, and other materials used to promote the annual event. Event programs with schedules, the history of Southeast Asian water festivals in general, and event booth listings are also included.
General Files, 2001-2014
These documents include board meeting agendas and minutes, fundraising information, and event planning materials.
For a listing of related collections at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and elsewhere, please visit: https://www.uml.edu/Research/SEA-digital-archive/related-collections.aspx.
For more information about the SEADA, please visit our home page at www.uml.edu/seada, or email us at seada@uml.edu.
