Going to speak in Marysville at the new Chinese History Museum was a special event since this small town was so important in the early history of Chinese headed to seek their fortunes on Gold Mountain. The timing coincided with the 129th Bok Kai (Rain God) Festival, which has also become an occasion for the entire community which put on an old fashioned small town parade, complete with politicians, local officials, beauty queens, marching bands accompanied by lots of firecrackers and not one, but two dragons.
The history museum has a small but impressive collection of artifacts pertaining to the early Chinese, and Brian and Lawrence Tom spearhead the efforts in maintaining its operation and development. About a dozen scholars dealing with Chinese American history gave presentations over the 2 days and the collegiality was warm and supportive.