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New Horizon Mall to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival

The sights and sounds of East Asia will come to New Horizon Mall Sept. 7 from 12 to 3 p.m.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Moon Festival, is a traditional harvest appreciation, most commonly celebrated in China and Vietnam. It highlights spending time with family, lighting paper lanterns and sharing moon cakes – a popular pastry that is usually eaten alongside a cup of tea.

“New Horizon Mall believes in creating an inclusive space that celebrates diversity,” said the mall’s marketing manager, Alex Wynn.

Similar autumn festivals have been celebrated for more than 1,000 years, and though there is no fixed date for it, celebrations are traditionally held on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar, according to independent.co.uk. This year, that would fall on Sept. 24.

Though New Horizon Mall’s version will take place a few weeks early, the event will include traditional East Asian music, according to Wynn, as well as children’s activities, the giving away of Chinese moon cakes, and performances from representatives of the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre.

Multi-cultural celebrations have become a hallmark of New Horizon Mall since its opening in May 2018. Throughout the last year, the mall has put on free public events for Cinco de Mayo, Diwali, Eid, Holi and others.

It’s all a part of the mall’s goal of building a community, according to Wynn.

“Part of that formula is operating these free, family-friendly events on a regular basis, and becoming a spot for ‘shopper-tainment,’” she said. “There have been a few different multi-cultural events here, and we look forward to hosting more in the upcoming months.”

This will mark the second year the mall has hosted a Mid-Autumn Festival, Wynn added. She said the 2018 event brought in close to 800 guests. 

“We hope to see a similar turnout this year,” she said.

The festival will likely not be the only event celebrated at New Horizon Mall this fall, according to Wynn, as the shopping centre prepares to reach a significant milestone.

“We have 95 shops opening now, and we look forward to celebrating 100 stores being open to the community, very soon,” she said. “We anticipate seeing that [100th store open] in the early fall.”

As well, Wynn said, one of the mall’s two anchor tenants – the Best Shop – is now open. The Best Shop is described as a Chinese equivalent to Walmart.

“That’s been bringing in a lot of new clientele,” she said. “We look forward to eventually hosting the Prairie Horizon Market (the other anchor tenant), as well. We don’t have a date for that grand opening yet.”

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