Ube Land Brings Thousands to Garland's AAPI Festival

From Little Saigon’s growth to Ube Land’s rise, Garland’s AAPI communities shape a festival that reflects decades of migration, entrepreneurship and cultural pride in North Texas.

By André Averion, Communications Chair

Published May 18th, 2026

The scent of grilled barbecue, sweet purple yam desserts and sizzling street food drifted through Downtown Garland Square on May 16th as thousands gathered for the fourth annual Asian American Heritage Festival, a celebration that reflected not only the city’s cultural diversity but also the evolution of Garland into one of North Texas’ fastest-growing Asian American cultural hubs.

Families lined the streets waving flags during parade performances and festivalgoers crowded around dozens of booths serving Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao and Cambodian dishes. At the center of the excitement stood one of the evening’s biggest attractions: Ube Land, a Filipino-inspired food experience dedicated to the vibrant purple yam known as ube.

This year marked the first large-scale collaboration between Ube Land and Garland’s annual Asian American Heritage Festival, drawing some of the largest crowds the event has seen to date.

“Ube Fest is going amazing,” said Zoya Elsisura, co-owner of Scoop N’ Buns, one of the driving forces behind Ube Land. “The lines are long, but it’s a beautiful chaos at this point. People are having fun, they’re in line even though it’s hot, but it’s going great.”

For many attendees, the festival represented something larger than food and entertainment. It reflected decades of demographic change that transformed Garland into a multicultural center shaped heavily by Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

During the early 2000s, rising property values and redevelopment in East Dallas prompted many Southeast Asian American families living near the Bryan and Fitzhugh corridor to relocate eastward. Garland, with more affordable housing and growing commercial opportunities, became a major destination for Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian families seeking stability and community.

Over the following two decades, the city’s northern and eastern commercial corridors grew into what many residents now informally call “Little Saigon,” where Vietnamese-owned businesses, Hispanic-owned storefronts and multicultural shopping plazas coexist side by side. Cultural anchors such as the Vietnamese American Activity Center and Cali Saigon Mall helped solidify Garland as a regional gathering place for North Texas’ AAPI communities.

That growth has increasingly shaped Garland’s identity. According to reporting by The Dallas Morning News, younger generations of Asian Americans are helping redefine suburban culture in North Texas by blending heritage, entrepreneurship and civic participation into the region’s evolving identity. The publication noted that North Texas’ Asian American enclaves continue to thrive through strong community investment and cultural preservation efforts.

The city’s Asian American Heritage Festival has become one of the clearest public expressions of that transformation. The event featured lion dances, traditional cultural performances, artisan vendors and live music while highlighting the city’s growing multicultural identity.

For Elsisura, Ube Land’s inclusion within the larger city festival felt like a natural next step.

“Last year they invited us to collaborate with our Ube Fest,” Elsisura said. “It got bigger and bigger, and we transferred it to Downtown Garland to be more of a bigger space to bring all these people, all our community.”

Ube Land itself began as a smaller community-centered celebration tied to Scoop N’ Buns, the Filipino dessert business Elsisura co-founded in Garland with her husband, and has since evolved into a broader cultural touchpoint for Filipino-inspired sweets in North Texas. What started as a niche cultural concept quickly expanded into a regional attraction as interest in Filipino cuisine and ube-based desserts grew nationwide, reflecting the rise of Mexi-Pino culinary fusion and locally rooted food entrepreneurship.

Founded in 2021 by Gerardo and Zoya, Scoop N’ Buns transformed a former thrift shop in downtown Garland into a family-focused dessert space built around handcrafted ice cream and warm, freshly baked donuts sourced from a local bakery. In 2024, the concept expanded with Cafe Frida, a tucked-away coffee space designed for studying and relaxation, reinforcing the shop’s role as a community hub centered on comfort, creativity, and everyday gathering. The shop’s rotating menu includes flavors like ube, horchata, Mexican vanilla Oreo, and mango, alongside vegan options, emphasizing both cultural fusion and accessibility.

What started as a niche cultural concept quickly expanded into a regional attraction as interest in Filipino cuisine and ube-based desserts exploded nationwide.

Visit Garland describes ube as both a culinary staple and “a symbol of cultural pride, creativity and connection within the AAPI community.

The purple yam, long used in Filipino desserts such as halo-halo, cakes and ice cream, has increasingly entered mainstream American food culture through coffee chains, bakeries and fusion restaurants. Yet for many Filipino Americans, ube remains deeply tied to memory, identity and family tradition.

“It hasn’t really changed for me,” Elsisura said. “It’s how I grew up. We’ve been doing what we’re doing as far as boiling the potatoes, making them into ube jam. This is my culture. This is a legacy from my mom and dad.”

Elsisura said one motivation behind creating Scoop N’ Buns and later Ube Land was the lack of visible Filipino representation in Garland’s downtown business district when the shop first opened.

“I noticed that there’s a lack of places that are Asian American in downtown Garland Square,” she said. “There’s Thai places and other spots, but I figured, why is there no Filipino culture out there?”

The city’s multicultural environment helped make that expansion possible. Garland officials and community leaders have increasingly emphasized diversity as a defining strength of the city, particularly as its AAPI population continues to grow.

Throughout Saturday’s festival, those interwoven communities were visible everywhere. Vietnamese-owned businesses sold drinks beside Filipino dessert vendors. Hispanic families browsed artisan booths while K-pop performances played across the main stage. Children from different backgrounds danced together during parade performances.

Visitor Center Supervisor Lacee Chapman said this year’s turnout appeared significantly larger than previous festivals, especially with the addition of Ube Land.

“This is by far the largest spread I’ve seen,” Chapman said. “A lot of people, when we’re asking them, they did hear about that, and that’s part of what brought them down.”

Chapman noted that Garland’s multicultural demographics directly influence how the city approaches festivals and community programming.

“We want to appeal to those communities,” she said, referencing Garland’s large Vietnamese population and increasingly diverse cultural makeup.

For many younger Asian Americans attending the festival, the event represented more than a cultural showcase. It reflected a growing confidence in publicly celebrating heritage within suburban North Texas communities that once lacked widespread visibility.

“Keep representing our culture out there,” Elsisura said. “There’s a lot of us, but there’s not a lot actively pushing our Filipino culture out there. Filipinos are the best. We support each other, and we shall continue supporting each other.”

As music echoed across Downtown Garland and crowds continued filling the square late into the evening, the festival offered a glimpse into how Garland’s multicultural communities are reshaping the identity of North Texas itself by building a shared community rooted in visibility, preservation and collaboration.

Below is a list of FIlipino / Filipino supporting businesses that were at Ube Land:
Food Vendors: 

@smithspotbbq - ube brisket potato & more

@igrill_lechon - BEST LECHON IN THE WORLD

@crackbrisket - ube banh baos & brisket 

@crunchiestx - ube eggrolls & more

@bambookitchen.dtx - ube waffle & more

@weebie_takoyaki - ube takoyaki & more takoyakis

@lolaremyslumpia -ube crinkles & lumpias 

@loroeats - ube corndog with pork belly & more

@mahaleating - ube spam musubi & more

@tasteof_jalisco - chicken tacos with purple cabbage, ube salsa & more

Dessert/Drink Vendors: 

@scoopnbuns - ube overload halo halo & more

@ube_addict - ube mochi bars & more

@cookiesbychrysta - ube brookies & more

@ddelicias_t - ube cheesecakes & more

@hanamohomecafe - ube matchas & more

@pinasarapbyche 

Craft Vendors: 

@yourcoolninang - ube crafts & more

@datukutti -purple apparels & more

@broadwayvintag3 - purple vintage clothings & more

@butterflybysof - purple ube crochets & more

@artesania_claudia - purple homemade scented candles & more