"Irving St. Merchants are thrilled to have this kind of celebration in our neighborhood," said Bill Barnickel, Board Director of the Irving Street Merchants Association. "We have been waiting for something like this for years!"

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the second annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration will be held on Saturday, May 20, 2006. This year the Celebration will take place on Irving St. between 20th and 25th Avenues in San Francisco's Sunset District. The fair will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Celebration is organized by the AsianWeek Foundation in cooperation with over 50 Asian American organizations representing over 500,000 members and associates in the San Francisco area. All proceeds from the fair will be donated to local charities and community groups.

Fairgoers are encouraged to walk, bicycle or take public transportation to the 2nd Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration. Valet bike parking will be provided by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition at 20th and Irving Street. Please be advised, MUNI will reroute the 71 Noriega line from 22nd Avenue and 23rd Avenue to 25th Avenue between Lincoln and Noriega on May 20th.

The first annual fair successfully took place last year in Japantown, which is now currently celebrating its 100th year anniversary. "We're rotating the location of the street fair each year to showcase all the Asian enclaves in San Francisco," said Ted Fang, of the AsianWeek Foundation. "There are three Chinatowns in San Francisco: Old Chinatown, Clement St. and Irving St, this year we're coming to Irving St. - the newest Chinatown in San Francisco." In the last 15-20 years, there has been an emergence of Asian American businesses in the Irving St. neighborhood where the fair is centered. "We want to bring attention to the changing nature of the neighborhood," Fang said. The concept of the fair is to bring all pieces of the Asian American community together in celebration of APA Heritage Month. Fang came up with the idea for the fair in 2005, after realizing that there was no celebration of this kind in the city.

Last year, the fair rocked with live DJs and performances. This year the fair plans on including the same elements as well as adding new forms of entertainment for the crowd. Currently, fair coordinators are planning to add a karaoke competition for the public to participate in.

The Asian Heritage Street Celebration is presented by Comcast and the California Pacific Medical Center. Other sponsors of the Celebration include GlaxoSmithKline, VERB, and HSBC. "I'm really glad AsianWeek brought together a collaboration of Asian American groups and festivities in our community," said last year's fairgoer Catherine Chen. "I had a lot of fun last year and am definitely looking forward to going again and for years to come."

For additional information and updates about the celebration, visit www.AsianFairSF.com .