On Sept. 14, 2024 Baltimore hosted the first-ever Mooncake Festival at Harbor Point from 2 p.m.  to 10 p.m. featuring foods from different cultures, live music, and a beautiful view of the Waterfront. This festival was one of many in the DMV happening this fall

The Mooncake Festival also known as the Mid-Autumn festival is a Chinese festival with a rich history. The festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is usually around mid-September.   

Kristina Beckford, a sophomore Nursing major, was excited to learn more about Mooncakes themselves, “I hope to learn more about the different kinds of mooncakes, I know there are mooncakes from different cultures, so I just want to learn about the diversity within the food.” 

With live performances of people in cultural clothing and foods from other parts of the world like the Philippines, Japan, and China, the Mooncake Festival was an amazing opportunity to try new foods and learn more about various cultures. One of the many tasty dishes at the event was a hand-pulled noodle dish with pork and sesame sauce. They also had barbequed meat, colorful dumplings, and even fried watermelon.  

Camille Calhoun, a sophomore fashion design student had a few things to say about the sesame pork noodles, “We tried the ramen. It was really good, it was sweet, and filling.” 

Baltimore is an accessible city for Howard University students. The best mode of transportation, the Amtrak, comes in at an affordable $23 for a roundup. Like many events in the DMV, the festival was free to attend which is great for the college student on a budget 

 The Mooncake Festival was one of the many other festivals circulating the DMV this fall. If you ever have a free weekend and would like to explore other areas around the DMV, a few festivals are happening  throughout the fall that you should investigate, including the Home Rule Music Festival on Oct. 20th , DC Coffee festival from October 5-6, and  Renaissance Festival running through Oct. 20th.  A great resource for finding these festivals is Instagram, TikTok, and Google.