CHINATOWN – 1000’s of revelers poured into Chinatown Sunday in celebration of the neighborhood’s iconic Lunar New 12 months parade.
Lunar New 12 months festivities in Chinatown sometimes draw round 20,000 individuals yearly. This 12 months’s crowd didn’t disappoint, as each side of Wentworth Avenue have been packed on the parade’s 1:00 p.m. kickoff Sunday.
Shopkeepers peered via storefront home windows as parade-goers pushed via lots of individuals to search out optimum viewpoints for the celebrations, which ushered within the 12 months of the snake.
Native officers, together with Mayor Brandon Johnson and Ald. Nicole Lee (eleventh) lead the parade north from the intersection of Wentworth Avenue and twenty fourth Road to a stage constructed on the intersection of Wentworth Avenue and Cermak Highway.
“Lunar New 12 months may be very a lot a part of the soul of Chicago,” Johnson proclaimed. “So all people, let’s have fun. Glad New 12 months!”
Lee and ABC7 anchor Judy Hsu introduced every successive group making an look within the parade. Conventional lion and dragon dances have been carried out with the accompanying percussive devices, however some displays took the group without warning.
Attendees have been thrown into an uproar when it got here time for the Shannon Rovers Irish Pipe Band’s bagpipe efficiency and marching band efficiency.
A few of these in attendance felt the urge to reconnect with their tradition. Osa, who hadn’t been to a Lunar New 12 months parade because the COVID-19 pandemic, mentioned that it was good to “join with others with related backgrounds.”
“I grew up Vietnamese on the North Facet, and we celebrated Lunar New 12 months, too,” Osa defined. “I lived round a whole lot of white individuals, so generally that tradition may get diluted, however I believe its tremendous essential to attach again along with your tradition. I like the vitality right here.”
Others within the crowd got here from throughout the nation and had by no means skilled Lunar New 12 months festivities earlier than. Wire, who donned a knit dragon cap to guard himself from Sunday’s freezing temperatures, was visiting Chicago from Memphis along with his spouse and seized the chance to expertise Lunar New 12 months.
“That is simply so cool,” Wire mentioned, “We don’t have something like this in Memphis. I like the tradition on this metropolis. All the things’s so vibrant.”
The parade concluded round 2:30 p.m. as onlookers cramming onto the sidewalk have been lastly allowed to rove freely down a cordoned-off Wentworth Avenue.
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