This past Saturday, Chinatown near Downtown Los Angeles played host to the 118th Golden Dragon Parade & Chinese New Year Festival. Free to attend for all ages, this all-day festival celebrated Eastern culture and the turn of their new year with lots of festivities that included food, entertainment, arts & crafts, noisemakers, the inaugural parade, and more. The main Chinatown plaza had lots of gourmet food trucks, vendors, and stages for music and demonstrations. The parade encircled Chinatown, blocking off many of the streets in the area. The beginning of the parade had many of the traditional features of a Chinese New Year parade, with the dancing dragons and rhythmic music. Following this, the remainder of the parade consisted of the city’s important people passing by in cars, such as senators and the police chief.
While the actual Chinese New Year already occurred over a week, plenty more Lunar New Year festivals will take place within the next week, including one in San Diego this weekend. Check out your local cities to see if anymore Lunar New Year festivals will occur, since many of them make for a fun afternoon with friends and family.
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