In the 1860’s the Chinese in San Francisco started the Chinese New Year Parade as a way to educate their community about Chinese cultural customs. Today, San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Festival and Parade – a month-long celebration including a Flower Fair, Community Fair, Jamboree, Run, and the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant and Ball – is the largest Lunar New Year celebration outside of Asia. A San
Francisco tradition since just after the Gold Rush, the Parade continues to delight and entertain the over one million people that come to watch it on the street and hundreds of thousands more who watch the broadcast on KTVU Fox 2 or KTSF Channel 26, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Nowhere in the world will you see a lunar new year parade with more gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, ferocious lions, exploding firecrackers, and of course, the newly crowned Miss Chinatown U.S.A. and her court. A crowd favorite is the spectacular 288' Golden Dragon ("Gum Lung"). It takes a team of over 100 men and women from the martial arts group, White Crane to carry this dragon throughout the streets of San Francisco. This year's Chinese New Year Parade promises to warm your heart and electrify your senses, come rain or shine.
