Asian Cultural Festival last Saturday in Miamisburg, in the Library park (and there aren’t many Asians in Miamisburg, at least this part).

 

There was supposed to be one last year, but it was cancelled. All the various Asian groups in the community get together to throw this little festival (actually not so little, as they had quite a few booths set up).

 

 

The schedule had a lot of folkloric dancing, like this group, the Changkoo Dancers (Korean dancing) on a stage in front of the library....

 

 

And plenty of opportunity for shopping for various things, including some pretty good food booths. This and the other festivals are always good places to try something different for food (for example, the Vietnamese had their excellent iced coffee)...

 

 

 

More folkloric performance. This was actually pretty interesting; a Korean drumming group. The program says "Taiko Drumming"...

There was also a kids stage/storytelling area. This was a fairly low-key event, but actually could be something that develops over time.

 

 

There aren't many Asians in Dayton, 10,366 combined (2000 census 100% count). This translates to 2.0% of Greene Counties total population and 1.3% of Montgomery Counties. Greene has the highest % in SW Ohio, including metro Cincy. This may seem small, but it's enough to support little markets and restaurants and stores scattered throughout the area, as well as some churches and temples.

 

The census provides a little detail on where the Asians come from, as Asia is a pretty big place. For Montgomery & Greene County combined, here are the percentages:

 

 

 

Taking a look at the geographic distribution of Asians, but also Latinos and foreign born.

 

First this key map. Here I show some landmarks: rivers in blue, expressways (black lines), some surface streets (red lines), and various locations and landmarks. I recognize geography education is poor in the USA and people have trouble recognizing patterns on maps, so this is to help orient you, at least in a general sense.

 

I also include a part of Greene County here, but do not show county lines and city limits as I want to emphasis the Dayton metro area as a whole, as an urban system.

 

 

I did have to sacrifice some coverage of both counties, but as you will see, for the purposes of this topic, we’ll still be able to capture the relevant geography.

 

 

In all the following maps I show only the higher concentrations. Asians, Latinos, and the foreign born are found throughout the area, but in lower numbers than I show here. Between 50% to 60% of the relevant populations are being mapped, the balance distributed throughout the two counties.

 

The Asian population, with substantial concentrations in Washington Township, the Springboro Pike corridor, and the Beavercreek/Wright State areas.

 

 

There are about 8,909 Latinos in Greene and Montgomery counties who answered the census, which probably does not include the undocumented population. One can make a safe assumption that due to chain migration effects the undocumented will live in the same tracts as those who responded to the census.

 

One can see how the Asian and Latino geographies overlap in suburbia, but also how Latinos are starting to concentrate along the Mad River/Route 4 corridor into Greene County, with a substantial urban population in east Dayton, particularly in Twin Towers, Huffman, Findlay Avenue & Springfield Street neighborhoods.

 

 

 

There is also a concentration in military housing at Wright-Patterson AFB and in the Fairgrounds/University of Dayton area.

 

Next I combine Asian and Latino populations, and express this number as a % of census tract population, perhaps as an indication of cultural diversity, showing which tracts have a higher % of non-white/non-black population, and map out the results for the top tracts.

 

Using this method tracts with small overall populations but even a moderate number of Asians + Latinos will have having a higher %, and large numbers in populous tracts will be diluted and appear as a low %,

 

 

Here one can see the concentration in the Fairfield Commons area as the highest concentration by far at 11.33%, followed by a concentration in base housing, Wright State/Colonel Glenn corridor, and the Springboro Pike corridor south of the Dayton Mall. There is also a concentration in a tract in northern Huber Heights, off the map.

 

The only substantial city concentration is in Twin Towers, plus a lower concentration north of E 3rd, east of Findlay.

 

Immigration & Foreign Born

 

The above maps count Asians and Latinos, but make no distinction if they are immigrants or not. And not all immigrants are Asian or Latino. The 2000 census counts 18,905 foreign born individuals in Montgomery and Greene Counties, and they could come from a variety of places, including the traditional immigration source of Europe. The numbers here are small, as we shall see.

 

Mapping out the numbers, one sees similar distribution as for the Asian and Latinos, but also slight concentrations to the north (including some tracts off the map), and a concentration between Wolf Road and N Main Street. Wright State area is again a leading tract, perhaps indicating that WSU is attracting foreign students.

 

 

The Twin Towers/Linden Heights area is the concentration in inner Dayton.

 

 

Mapping the percentage of a tract that is foreign-born. Again the Fairfield Commons area is one of the top tracts, along with McPhersontown, which didn’t appear in any of the previous maps. Perhaps the foreign born population in McPhersontown is not necessarily Latino or Asian?

 

 

Wright State area and a newer suburban tract in Greene County also have higher percentages.

 

Suburbia does seem to be a popular location for both Asians and Latinos as well as the foreign-born population (recognizing there is some overlap). Newer suburbia and edge-city areas seem to particularly 

 

The exception is for Latinos, with East & North Dayton (particularly the Twin Towers ) and a corridor heading east/northeast into Greene County, having concentrations (and Moraine).

 

In the final analyses , cultural diversity in Dayton is really a suburban experience.

 

 

 

 

 

The mall-walla?

 

 

There has been a "Dayton Chinese Christian Church" on Patterson Road in Dayton (Patterson Park area) for at least 15-20 years. There is no significant community of Asians (at least that I know of) near Patterson Park. But this is probably the most suburban part of Dayton, too. Just kind of interesting.

Hehe Miamisburg.

Hehe Miamisburg.

 

Miamisburg...aspiring to be the "Newport" of Dayton.

 

Jeff, outstanding work and thank you.

 

I think the census has stuff on "ancestry", and that would be interesting to to look at, too.

 

                                                                                                           

interesting. asians in dayton. who knew?!

Oh this is great.  It would be great to see this information for the Cincinnati area.  I know that the Enquirer did a story recently about the Asian community, and it too is mostly in the burbs in places like Mason and West Chester.  However, some of the older suburbs like Evendale, Sharonville, and Springdale also have significant asian communities, and the Cincinnati Asian Market (a full sized grocery, but all Asian food) is in Evendale.  These communities also have about a dozen or so of the smaller groceries like the ones you photographed, and there has been an Asian Festival at Union Terminal for quite some time.

interesting. asians in dayton. who knew?!

 

Have you been to Beavercreek? LOL