After two years of a pandemic and an uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes, thousands of people looked to welcome the new year with the parade — a symbol of a new beginning and a return to normalcy.
On Saturday, San Francisco’s Chinatown welcomed the Year of the Tiger with a parade of dancers, live music, and fireworks, the city’s first in-person Lunar New Year celebration since the Year of the Rat on Feb. 8, 2020.
The parade was led by the prominent actor and activist Daniel Wu. San Francisco police motorcycles preceded the two-and-a-half-hour parade as the festivities began.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Mayor London Breed, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the “We Are One” organization, the API Coalition, Bay Area Rapid Transit, and marching bands from UC Davis and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, to name a few, were among those who took part in the parade.
The parade’s “grand finale” was a 268-foot-long Golden Dragon that was carried by 100 men and women from Leung’s White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association.
The parade has been held by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco since 1958, and is widely regarded as the “largest celebration of its kind in the world”
