A Tribute To The Hmong International Freedom Festival – The Hmong International Freedom Festival (Also Known As Hmong J4th) Has Been Canceled For 2021
By Kim Yang
United Hmong Family, Inc. has recently come out with a decision on the 2021 Hmong International Freedom Festival.
The Board of the United Hmong Family, Inc. has decided again to cancel the HIFF this year. Health and safety remain the two most important factors.
Although the vote was unanimous, the decision was never easy – to again put off an event that has, over the years, become a cherished and much-awaited festival.
As Minnesota slowly opens up and with over 2 million individuals of our community being fully vaccinated, we can finally start discussing if we are now able to safely host our events. Unfortunately, we are not able to host the annual Hmong International Freedom Festival, but we are closely monitoring the current situation in hopes of hosting the Minnesota Hmong New Year 2021-2022 in November this year.
We understand everyone is facing tough times with concerns related to the novel coronavirus. The United Hmong Family, Inc. is aware of the interruptions the virus has caused to many families in 2020 and into 2021.
We thank those of you that have reached out to the organization and our event planners, with questions and concerns, regarding the annual Hmong Freedom Festival event scheduled to commence on the weekend before July 4th. We want to share with you, the organization continues to be in close communications with local agencies and our partners while monitoring the impacts with the virus closely.
In support of the governor’s Peacetime Emergency Order in early 2020, all planning for the event was halted to support slowing down the spread of the virus. We take these measures very seriously to ensure everyone continues to maintain healthy and can focus on more relevant things with your children, work, and home.
As our state is reopening up businesses and removing public restrictions, we continue to monitor the impacts of this pandemic after many have been vaccinated to ensure the safety of all our volunteers and partners with continuing to organize our two events as safety is our number one priority. We will continue to share information about our decisions on our Facebook page to ensure you get communication about the event right away and can share with others needing the information. Again, thank you for your continued support with maintaining the Hmong culture, heritage, and language with our two events over the years that have truly woven into the fabrics of Minnesota’s culture.
Wishing you all great health and strength, as we get through this together.
For the last 40 years this event celebrated the journey of Hmong citizens’ fight toward freedom and a better life, and featured many talents and performers, including musicians, motivational speakers, dancers, and Hmong community leaders. Merchandise vendors and businesses, both local and national, also attend this event each year, setting up tents and booths to sell their goods and products. Farmers also attend to sell exotic fruits and farm fresh vegetables. Arrangements are also made for booths engaging in educational and informational promotion.
In honor of the Hmong International Freedom Festival, and looking forward to 2022, we’d like to provide the following pictorial from past festivals. Please stay safe and hopefully COVID-19 will be under control so that we can return to normal in time to enjoy the Hmong New Year Festival
For more information regarding future J4 events:
