Annual Chinese New Year Parade

Regardless of celebration I am all about the parade. I came here with a few of my friends who were dressed in gold and red. I am not into the culture 100% but it was nice to be surrounded by happy celebratory people. I always get a kick out of the dragons as that has always made me smile. Very large improvement from when I was younger now that the population has increased and there is a reason to put on a large spectacle from what used to be a small 2 — 4 block parade in the late 80’s on Main street. I am seeing more and more stores and people who are not Chinese get into the spirit of the celebration.

Amazing, impressive, fascinating event, it’s been decades since I’ve gone.
Cleverly, I parked near the ‘finish line” by Rogers arena, then walked towards the many different focus groups, this way, they walked towards me so great for pics.
Wished there was more music and food.
even the Sikh motorcycle group was represented. Many lion dance clubs, for which i’ll review later, as I prefer to legitimately include full address and phone numbers (unlike someone). Seriously, I caught the tail end of it, arrived 45 min so by 1:30pm, wrapping up.
Saw martial arts, last name associations societies which will even pump out more reviews if I feel like it, classical dance, kids groups…
Over 100,000 turnout. All the way from Main St and Quebec blocked off.
Some action and magic show at Keefer Place too.

Dancing lions make me smile no matter how many I see, so I love the Chinese New Year Parade. But it’s more than just the colourful and energetic dancing lions (which are plentiful — over 50 traditional lion dance teams participate), you get a great feeling of community watching the parade.
Vancouver embraces it’s Chinese heritage, but it seems that the Chinese in Vancouver also embrace multiculturalism — there are plenty of dance teams, floats, bands, and other community groups there from all different cultures and segments of the community.
The parade route is only 1.5 km, but the parade seems to go on forever. It starts at noon and takes two or three hours to pass you by. It starts on Pender near Taylor then goes east, turns south at Gore, then finishes going west along Keefer (near Columbia).
Celebrate the Year of the Ox Feb. 1, 2009! (And mark your calendar for Feb. 14, 2010). Be there. Then eat dim sum.