The 25th annual Asian American Heritage Festival took place Saturday at Kensico Dam Plaza.

The event had 30 different types of vendors that offered everything from balloon animals, to face painting, cultural dances, origami, martial arts and delicious food.

Event participants told News 12 after two years of anti-Asian sentiment and random attacks on the Asian community, this year they were a little prouder and a little louder.

“After two years of the pandemic and how Asian Americans were so targeted as the scapegoats basically for the pandemic, we really come out strong and want to show people we're just American with Asian heritage and we're just like everybody else,” said Jin Li, President of OCA Westchester & Hudson Valley.

Kensico Dam Plaza has many heritage festivals planned for the season. The Albanian heritage festival kicks off Sunday at 12 p.m.