Hmong community celebrates its New Year and 50 years as Americans

Deena Winter, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Nov 29, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — “Let’s do the ball toss,” a young woman excitedly said to the young man with her as they walked into the St. Paul RiverCentre auditorium Saturday for the 45th annual Minnesota Hmong New Year celebration.

They were already holding hands, but the ball toss courtship ritual has long been a way to signal a person is single and ready to mingle at the New Year’s party, one of the largest cultural celebrations in Minnesota’s Hmong community. It drew more than 30,000 people last year.

The two-day event also marked 50 years of the Hmong people living in Minnesota. St. Paul has the largest Hmong population in the country, at more than 66,000.

The RiverCentre was filled with dancers in brightly colored clothing who competed and entertained the crowd, while vendors sold their wares nearby. They celebrated mileposts like the first Hmong charter school, Hmongtown Marketplace, the community’s role in the movie “Gran Torino,” and stars like Olympic gymnast Suni Lee.

They also honored elected officials, including the first Hmong legislator and City Council member. This year was particularly special because earlier in November, St. Paul elected its first Hmong mayor — Kaohly Her.

In a video address Saturday, Her told the crowd not to become complacent and forget “the fight it took to get” where they are. She said there have been “so many firsts” for the Hmong community in Minnesota, but she hopes in the next 50 years “we will no longer hear the word ‘first.’”

The New Year celebration marks the end of the Hmong cultural calendar year, when historically farmers finally had a chance to relax after the harvest.

The annual event has brought many couples together with the traditional ball-toss courtship game called pov pob. It’s akin to asking someone to dance. If you drop the ball, you’re supposed to give your partner something you’re wearing, like a ring or necklace.

For their date in 2008, Julie Thao and her husband, Pao Choua Yang, went to the New Year’s event, and did the ball toss. They had met before, but the older generation is a “little more strict” and doesn’t allow children — especially daughters — to go out on dates, Thao said.

“That was the norm growing up,” she added.

The occasion offered the young teenagers a chance to hang out all day and get to know each other. Yang said he was too shy to play the game for long, but a match was made: The two married and have three daughters, ages 3, 2 and nine months.

They still attend the New Year’s event every year, and the entire family showed up Saturday in matching ornate outfits. This time at the pov pob, the two older daughters tossed the ball to their parents while just steps away Mayor-elect Her cut the ribbon to kick off the day’s festivities.