Hmong community leaders and guests gathered Saturday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the start of Hmong New Year celebrations in Marshall. The ceremony, held at the entrance to the Red Baron Arena and Expo, was a way to say goodbye to the old year and welcome in the new year. Guests for Saturday morning’s opening ceremonies included Hmong community leaders from the Twin Cities and Nebraska, and representatives from the city of Marshall and Southwest Minnesota State University.

MARSHALL — It was a day of celebration. Hundreds of people marked the Hmong New Year on Saturday, with music, dance, food and more at the Red Baron Arena and Expo.

The festivities in Marshall started out with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning. Area residents and visiting guests gathered to cut two ribbons at the entrance to the arena. The ceremony is a way to say farewell to the old year and welcome in the new year, speakers at the festival said.

Guests at the opening ceremonies included Hmong community leaders from the Twin Cities and Nebraska, as well as representatives from the city of Marshall and Southwest Minnesota State University.

“It’s a nice blessing for the community,” said May Lee Moua-Vue, who was one of the committee members with United Hmong Southwest Minnesota who helped organize the event. Moua-Vue said the visiting guests “Come to bring good luck, and wish the southwest Minnesota Hmong community prosperity and happiness for the new year.”

People entering the arena were also invited to have a beverage and a hard-boiled egg – foods that represented blessings for the new year, speakers at the event said.

This year was the first time that Hmong New Year celebrations were held at the Red Baron Arena and Expo. Organizers had been looking for a larger venue to hold the event, Moua-Vue said. “I think that it worked very well,” she said.

New Year programs were held during the day and in the evening Saturday, with entertainment like both traditional and modern music and dance. There were also about 20 vendors, booths from Marshall area community organizations, and food vendors.

In Hmong culture, the New Year holiday isn’t held on a specific day. But Hmong communities around the U.S. are celebrating New Year in the fall, Moua-Vue said. Some of the guests Saturday came from the Twin Cities, Nebraska, Kansas City and California, Moua-Vue said. In the evening, Minnesota state Rep. Kaohly Vang Her also spoke.

Part of this year’s celebration was also a recognition of Hmong veterans of the War in Southeast Asia, and of the Hmong community marking 50 years in Minnesota. A historical display at the Arena said the first Hmong refugees arrived in Minnesota from camps in Thailand in the winter of 1975-76. Many of those people had worked with U.S. military efforts in Laos during the war.

“It’s truly a long journey,” Moua-Vue said of the Hmong community’s time in Minnesota. The community has been “very resilient and strong,” and can be proud of their accomplishments, she said.