On Sept. 29 at the Renton Community Center, the City of Renton celebrated its first ever Children’s Moon Cake Festival. Also known as the Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, this harvest festival is held every year on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon. In the Gregorian calendar, this falls somewhere between mid-September and early October.

Throughout eastern and southeastern Asia, many different countries celebrate their own versions of the Moon Cake Festival like Chuseok in Korea, Bon Om Touk in Cambodia, Tết Trung Thu in Vietnam, and Tsukimi in Japan. Countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore also celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival.

At the city’s Moon Cake Festival, children made paper lanterns, ate moon cakes, macarons and mandarin oranges, enjoyed balloon animals and face painting, all while the packed room at the Community Center was filled with entertaining performances that included Chinese Lion Dancers and Cambodian classical folk dancers. At 7 p.m., the festival closed with a viewing of the 2020 animated film “Over The Moon.”