Drones spelling out “Taiwan” lit up the night sky over ASU's West Valley campus as thousands gathered for a Double Ten Day celebration featuring a night market, cultural performances and food from Taiwanese vendors. The festival honors Taiwan's national holiday and has grown into one of the largest celebrations of its kind in North America, according to event organizers.
A Festival Years in the Making
Dates for this year's celebration have been reported differently across sources: KJZZ reported that Phoenix held its celebration the preceding weekend, while ASU's own event listing states the gathering took place October 3, 2026, at the university's West Valley campus. ASU describes the event as free and open to the public, students, faculty and staff, according to ASU Events. The event has become an annual fixture; ASU has said it intends to hold the celebration every year.
Phoenix has hosted Double Ten National Day celebrations at ASU for the past four years, per the Taipei Times. Last year's event drew roughly 7,000 attendees, including more than 1,000 TSMC employees and their families, according to the same report. That marks a dramatic jump from the celebration's early days: a 2022 gathering at ASU's West campus drew nearly 700 community members and ended with fireworks, according to ASU News.
Night Market, Drones and Taiwanese Flavors
This year's festivities featured a night market with food and craft vendors, cultural performances and activities for all ages, according to the ASU Events listing. Per KJZZ, the celebration included Taiwanese restaurants, and the night concluded with a drone show at ASU's West Valley campus in which drones spelled out “Taiwan” and displayed the Taiwanese national flag. ASU's own promotional materials describe a dazzling drone show meant to illuminate the West Valley sky.
The spectacle echoes last year's drone display, which used 150 colored drones to form the Taiwan flag, Chinese characters for Taiwan, and motifs including Taipei 101 and a Formosan black bear, the Taipei Times reported, in a show sponsored by TSMC.
City Leaders Point to a Growing Community
Phoenix city councilwoman Ann O'Brien said the celebration would help Taiwanese people feel at home in the Valley and help Phoenicians learn more about Taiwan, according to KJZZ. O'Brien also said the Taiwanese population in the Valley has grown from hundreds to several thousand over the past six years, and she pointed to Taiwan-based TSMC breaking ground on its current campus in 2021 as a turning point for the region.
That growth tracks with broader trends documented elsewhere: about 30,000 Taiwanese people live in the Phoenix area, which is also home to more than 40 Taiwanese companies and more than 500 Taiwanese students, the Taipei Times reported. TSMC alone employs more than 3,000 people at its Phoenix facility, according to ASU News. Taiwan's recruitment and relocation needs tied to the chipmaker's expansion have been described as adding to the growing multiculturalism in Phoenix, per Scottsdale REALTORS, with some workers reassigned from Taiwan expected to stay three to four years while others may settle permanently and raise families in the United States.
Deepening Ties Between Phoenix and Taiwan
The cultural exchange has been matched by economic and travel links. Taiwan became the United States' fifth-largest merchandise trading partner in 2025, with total goods trade reaching $256.1 billion, according to ASU News. China Airlines now operates direct flights between Phoenix Sky Harbor and Taiwan three times a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, per FOX 10 Phoenix, a nonstop route estimated to generate more than $100 million in annual economic benefit. Starlux Airlines was scheduled to begin operating the same route starting January 15, 2026, according to the same report.
Whether this year's celebration drew record crowds, the exact date it took place, or how many vendors filled the night market this time around remains unclear, with event materials and news coverage offering conflicting details. What is consistent across sources is the festival's trajectory: from a few hundred attendees in 2022 to thousands today, mirroring the rapid growth of Phoenix's Taiwanese community and its deepening ties to the island nation 7,000 miles away.
