San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade

The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is an annual event held in San Francisco and directed by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Held for approximately two weeks following the first day of the Chinese New Year, it combines elements of the Chinese Lantern Festival with a typical American parade. First held in 1858, along what are today Grant Avenue and Kearny Street, it is the oldest and largest event of its kind outside of Asia, and the largest Asian cultural event in North America. The parade route begins on Market Street and terminates in Chinatown.

During the California Gold Rush caused many Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco to work in gold mines and on railroads in search of wealth and a better life. In the 1860s the Chinese community wanted to share their Chinese culture with others, and blended their traditions with American traditions and held a parade with flags, banners, lanterns, drums and firecrackers which led to what is now known as the San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade.

The parade has developed over the past 150 years into one of the grandest nighttime illuminated parades in the US, and one of the largest celebrations of Asian culture outside of Asia. As of 2017 it was considered the largest Asian event in North America, and the largest general market even in Northern California. It was also named as one of the world’s top ten parades.

Highlights of the parade include floats, lion dancers, elementary school groups in costume, marching bands, stilt walkers, Chinese acrobats, and a Golden Dragon. Observers can expect to hear at least 600,000 firecrackers, and are advised to bring ear plugs.

The Golden Dragon is one of the highlights of the parade, considered the “Grand Finale” of the parade. It is made in Foshan, China and is 268 feet long, and takes a team of 100 men and women from the martial arts group White Crane to carry it.

The parade is sponsored by Southwest Airlines and is hosted by the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

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Wikipedia