Upon entering Wat Thai, St. Louis Park’s new Buddhist temple, temple visitor Christine Laube said guests were greeted with a floral necklace and the smell of Thai street food.

According to temple treasurer Wasda Schneider, Wat Thai Buddhist temple aimed to create a welcoming environment for Park residents by holding an open house April 9. Schneider said the open house intended to celebrate Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year.

“Mainly (the) Buddhism we are practicing comes from Southeast Asia, so people who come from that region that live around St. Louis Park (will have) a common worship. That’s (our) primary goal,” Schneider said. “We really want to engage (neighborhood residents) in our faith. How much they want to take is up to them.”

Schneider said the temple opened the celebration to the entire community, as opposed to just Buddhists or those of Thai descent, in order to expose residents to other cultures and religions.

“We want to serve Buddhism’s philosophy that we want to live in peace (among) every religion, so (by) opening (Wat Thai) up, people have a good understanding of who we are,” Schneider said.

Sophomore Claire Middleton said she liked seeing the diversity of the community at the event, as well as the food and the parade that took place before the ceremony.

“(Wat Thai will have) a positive impact (on Park) because it’s good to have different ideas and different types of people in our community,” Middleton said.

According to Schneider, Wat Thai gave the repurposed church a new life after having been abandoned for two years. Schneider said the members of Wat Thai ensured the building was up to code before officially opening to the public.

“(It was) a lot (of) work and clean up (to get) the plumbing, electricity and broken glass up to (the) safety level of the city of St. Louis Park (so that) we could open,” Schneider said.

Junior Alex Peterson said he believes the Wat Thai temple will be a good place for the Buddhist community to unite.

“If the Buddhist population doesn’t have a place to convene, then this is the perfect opportunity,” Peterson said.

According to Laube, Park has gained a reputation for harboring minority groups. Laube said she believes the opening of the temple will result in a growing Thai and Buddhist community in the area.

“I think St. Louis Park is really well known for diversity and (supporting) diversity and small communities, so (Park is) kind of a good community to support minority groups like that,” Laube said.

Sophomore Grace Adams-Maas said the temple will be beneficial not only to the Buddhist community in Park, but also to other residents.

“I think (Wat Thai) will make people more accepting in our community and learn to embrace other cultures and religions,” Adams-Maas said.

Schneider said Wat Thai has made great progress since their initial establishment and hopes it will attract more Buddhists to the Twin Cities area.

“(Wat Thai) has actually been established since 2004, but we had (a) different location. We kind of moved up and (we are) getting bigger and bigger,” Schneider said.

Schneider said Wat Thai has a lot planned for the year of 2017, such as the Festival of Nations and the Visakha Bucha day ceremony in May. For more information, visit Wat Thai’s Facebook page or www.watthaimn.org.