Inside Look is a Fresno Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories.
On 20 acres surrounded by farmland a few miles outside of Fresno, a small pond attracted visitors all summer from around California and as far away as North Carolina.
They came to Fresno County to see flowers with hues of pink, white, yellow and gold growing from stalks in the water. Some of them hadn’t seen the bloom of the Lotus — a plant abundant in Southeast Asia and held sacred in Buddhism — since leaving their homelands as refugees decades ago.
“We have a lot of elders that come out here,” said Connie Marez, event manager and host at The Lotus Pond. “I kid you not, they’re so surprised to be able to bring back the memories that were lost like 40 years ago.”
The Lotus Pond, owned and operated by Konny Phimmasone, opened as a weekly Laotian cultural night market off Del Rey and McKinley avenues on the outskirts of Sanger in July. Its story stretches back to 2021, when Phimmasone, who was a Laotian refugee and formerly the owner of the Thai House restaurant in Fresno, began planting Lotus in her property’s pond. After decades of operation, her restaurant had closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and The Lotus Pond began as something for her to share with friends and family.
But as the Lotus grew and spread across the pond, Phimmasone’s Facebook posts about the plants spread among the Southeast Asian community and others who are interested in its culture. The venue was used to shoot scenes in True Treasure, a romance set in Vietnam and scheduled to premiere this week in Georgia at the 168 Film Festival for faith-based movies.
Now, on Fridays and Saturdays from 5-11 p.m., vendors, visitors and music fill a dirt lot at The Lotus Pond surrounded by trees and the farm’s chickens, ducks and cows. Women pose near the pond in traditional Southeast Asian dresses. Families lounge on tables setup for dinners of traditional Laotian food prepared in ways that some say cannot be found anywhere else nearby.
The market event was originally intended to run through the Lotus’ bloom season, roughly June-October. Though the bloom season has come to an end, the venue’s popularity led Phimmasone to decide to keep it open into November. The venue will host a traditional Laotian festival event open to the public Nov. 15, when candles will be released on floating rafts in the pond. The market will return next year.
“We’re trying to give the community just kind of the essence of Asia,” said Keith Darasaeng, The Lotus Pond’s operations manager and Phimmasone’s son-in-law. “It’s not about commercial anything. We want you guys to actually enjoy it, and you’ll find unique eats here.”
Connie Marez, left, and Konny Phimmasone , right, have opened Lotus Pond and Night Market earlier this year celebrating the lotus flower and community with a night market offering food, music and more. The market is located between Fresno and Sanger.
Fresno County’s Lotus Pond the ‘only place’ for this type of food
The Lotus Pond offers a menu cooked up by Phimmasone and includes barbecued duck and chicken, papaya salad and noodle dishes, among other options.
She began cooking for large groups once visitors started pouring into The Lotus Pond to see the sacred plants growing there. After seeing the pond, visitors would ask for recommendations for nearby restaurants.
“When they (the visitors) brought their crew, they were like, ‘Hey, can you cook, like, for 10 people?’” Keith Darasaeng said. “And then two, three weeks later, 20 people, and then the bus load.”
As the visitor groups grew in size, she began taking reservations. Orders from her menu, which is also available to customers on weekdays, require a reservation at least five hours in advance. (The fowl may still be alive when you call, Keith Darasaeng said.)
There are also cooks set up under tents selling an array of street-style foods.
On one side of the market, they push sugar cane stalks through a press to make fresh juice. Laotian sausages plump up and salted bass and crappie stuffed with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves sizzle over a grill.
On the other side, vendor Rasmi Sisomphou prepares food with his wife. They offer pork egg rolls, battered and deep-fried bananas and a steamed dessert of sticky rice flour wrapped in banana leaves.
“It reminds me of back home, the way the huts are set up,” said Sisomphou, who is originally from Laos and arrived in the U.S. in the 1980s. “That’s the capture of it.”
The reason the food’s quality stands out, he said, is the cooks at the market “carry that culture from back home.”
“Everything my wife does, everything she cooks, she sticks with the recipe from back home, from her grandma,” Sisomphou said. “Everything authentic, with closeness to where we come from.”
Sisomphou said two months ago, when the Lotus was blooming, he saw visitors from all over: North Carolina, San Diego, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto and more.
“With this food that we serve, with all the vendors that serve, they say this is the only place that they could get this type of food,” he said.
Pad Thai Noodles with egg is served at Lotus Pond and Night Market which opened earlier this year celebrating the lotus flower and communit. The night market offering food and drink vendors, music, karoake and more is located between Fresno and Sanger. Photographed Friday night, Oct. 10, 2025 near Sanger.
Lotus Pond offers southeast Asian community ‘piece of home’ in Fresno County
To Julie Darasaeng, who is Keith Darasaeng’s wife and Phimmasone’s stepdaughter, The Lotus Pond has become an extension of the southeast Asian community in Fresno County.
“A lot of people will fly to the motherland to get this nostalgia feeling of being back at home,” she said. “An extension of them on this property is like a piece of home.”
Many in the community are refugees who departed from their home countries during the Vietnam War Era and “haven’t this kind of ambient up close” since, said Keith Darasaeng.
Though they’ve seen the flowers on TV and other media, The Lotus Pond has given the community’s elders the opportunity to walk and pick them, he said.
“All through Southeast Asia, these are held holy,” he said. “As it blooms … they’ll open up really so bright, that’s the enlightenment part of it, and then they’ll close back up. In a human’s life, it’s the same way. You’ll go through ups and downs, just remember that you’ll bloom again.”
Keith Darasaeng said the contributions of immigrants and refugees to the U.S. are exemplified at The Lotus Market, where American flags hang as a symbol “that we are American.”
“All we hear is the negative things about immigration and migrants,” he said. “Look at what this has brought to our community. Folks are establishing businesses, folks are out here celebrating together…. It came from our parents, who gave us the opportunity, who took the risk to cross that river from sniper fire.”
Barbequed Chicken with tomatoe chili sauce is served at Lotus Pond and Night Market which opened earlier this year celebrating the lotus flower and community. The event is a night market offering food and drinks, music and more, is located between Fresno and Sanger. Photographed Friday night, Oct. 10, 2025 near Sanger.
Food vendors offer food at Lotus Pond and Night Market which opened earlier this year celebrating the lotus flower and community. The night market. offering food, music and more, is located between Fresno and Sanger. Photographed Friday night, Oct. 10, 2025 near Sanger.
Food vendors serve a customer at Lotus Pond and Night Market which opened earlier this year celebrating the lotus flower and community. The night market, offering food and drinks, music and more, is located between Fresno and Sanger.
Lotus Pond and Night Market opened this year celebrating the lotus flower and community with a night market offering food, music and more. The night market is wrapping up its season and is located between Fresno and Sanger.
Juice is squeezed from sugarcane by a vendor at Lotus Pond and Night Market Friday night, Oct. 10, 2025 near Sanger.
Connie Marez and Konny Phimmasone walk through the Lotus Pond and Night Market Friday night, Oct. 10, 2025 near Sanger. The night market was opened earlier this year celebrating the lotus flower and community. The night market which offers food, music, karaoke and more is located between Fresno and Sanger.