2015 Lunar New Year Festivals

I came here on the latter part of the event so I didn’t get to see much. There were booths from different kinds of vendors that sell things you can get at Chinatown, Chinese goodies, performances and carnival rides and games. I’m not sure if it’s the area but parking was awful.

This Lunar New Year Festival, is a street fair that spans a few blocks around Valley and Garfield Blvds in the Alhambra, CA 91 801 area.
It’s fairly lackluster in terms of the overall experience.
Parking isn’t so difficult, which is probably a result in the fact that it’s not that great of a festival. If you’re willing to walk about 4−5+ blocks you’ll find neighborhood residential street parking available.
I went on Saturday 02÷21÷15 The Year of the Ram (aka Goat aka Sheep), Gung Hay Fat Choy!
The main things I observed is that it’s not super friendly as some other ethnic cultural events, and the more Chinese public events I go to, the less Asian American I observe them to be, and they’re fastly becoming less desirable for non-​Chinese and those who don’t speak Chinese to attend. It sort of feels like how parts of Koreatown have signs in Korean only with no identification whether you’re going into a restaurant, billiard pool hall, hair salon or massage parlor, with attitudes that are nonchalant if not disinterested, bordering on rude towards wanting to service those they deem as outsiders. Most of the Chinese events in So Cal seem geared towards the Taiwanese and Mandarin or North Chinese immigrants, where it’s very much ESL (English as a Second Language) if not exclusively communication in the native tongue of the motherland, China, so you’d be handicapped in your experience if you only spoke English and didn’t comprehend Chinese.
So, the vibe I get is it’s a community event that doesn’t try to embrace outsiders nor welcome them by the way it’s designed for the most part. The Cantonese usually are very warm, friendly and welcoming, but the Mandarin are a bit more rigid and stoggy.
Even attending it, it’s mainly Asian Immigrant generation over 50 years old, many standing in lines just looking for «Freebies»
There’s way too many promotional booths here, and not a lot of quality giveaways, all of the swag is pretty sub-​par, barely worth taking, and not worth standing in line to «spin the wheel» for either. It would be more exciting if there was one bigger grand prize for a chance with bad odds to win, but most of the stuff was kinda «meh»
They had a few retail vendors, but nothing unique. Lot’s of stuff you would find at a 99 Ranch Market (or is it Ranch 99 Market?) including packaged food items.
The food booths were average, and in truth, you can walk or drive to neighborhood restaurants for better food, larger quantities and lower prices. Nothing unique other than one place that had a fried potato spiral on a stick, but I think it was around $ 7, which seemed kinda high for food comparable to one potato or a bag of fries.
They had a few carnival rides and games in the area for the kids or young at heart. That’s a «plus» aspect of this event I suppose, as far as entertainment goes.
The only thing they had which was enlightening for most attending was the entertainment stages, and they had 2 of them. Nice solid performances, including martial arts and traditional dance.
Unfortunately one was on ground floor level, so hard to really observe, and the other one had very limited seating in the area, so hard to be a spectator. I think they needed to make this the focal point of the festival and provide a bigger stage and sound system with a bigger more organized viewing area with added seats.
To improve this event, I think they should start adding non-​Asian vendors including food (although they had one Mexican food vendor this year) to promote cross cultural diversity and open the eyes of the locals to things not just Chinese, but of what the melting pot of America is. I know some may make a counterpoint argument that this is Chinese New Year, but this year they had Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, Ford, Toyota, McDonald’s and other companies not Chinese, so what’s the difference, so long as it’s in the spirit and celebration of the New Year.
They need to cut down on the number of junky promotional business booths that are trying to drum up business for their banks, real estate brokers, insurance agencies, funeral parlors (bad karma and mojo!), etc. or put them all in one area, and expand the stuff people may want to see and where commerce may occur (selling food, novelties and items).
They should encourage their vendors to be more open and embracing towards non-​Asian /​non-​Chinese speakers too, starting with the signage, including the staff, and making this an event of assimilation. It’s not about acculturation and trying to stifle what’s traditional and Chinese and replace it with the Anglo Eurocentric views of who and what America is, but just making it something for everyone to enjoy and exposing everyone to new things rather than just the same ‘ol stuff. I’d say everything they had here at the Lunar New Year festival is pretty much the same thing as if you just wanted to take a stroll in Chinatown on any day of the year or in the San Gabriel Valley on any street with retail businesses

I’ve been coming to these since I was a little kid but I appreciate them more as an adult. Lots of street food ranging from stinky tofu to fried seafood on a stick to shave ice and milk tea/​boba. Bring cash as most of these booths are still old school and not quite yet tech savvy with credit cards.
This year I stumbled upon this festival by accident driving down Garfield Ave only to find that it’s closed at Garvey Ave. Good thing I know the area and the shortcuts. My friend and I had time so we decided to check things out. Lots of parking by the city hall/​library.
Too bad we missed the dragon line dance performance, those are usually one of my favorites during these types of festivals.
There were also many vendors this year with free swag (re-​usable tote bags is the trend this year), but most of the time you have to open a new bank account or sign up for life insurance. If you don’t speak English, no problem! Most of the representatives speak some form of Chinese. I was impressed with this year’s attendees with its seemingly diverse population, perhaps they also stumble upon this festival as they were in the area for Asian eats…

There are at least 4 Lunar New Year street festivals held in the 626, each hosted by a different city (San Gabriel, Monterey Park, Temple City, Alhambra) and held on different dates. This one is the largest I’ve seen so far, reported to attract as many as 100,000 visitors. Garvey Boulevard in between Ramona and Alhambra were shut down for this event. Many of the vendors participate in all the street festivals, which explains why the events are staggered throughout the months of January and February.
There is something for everyone interested in learning about Chinese culture. If you arrive in the morning, you will find the traditional Chinese dragon parade and lion dance. You might also have a chance to catch some Shaolin martial arts/​kung fu performances. On the main stage, there are also fashion shows, belly dancing, live singing including acappella by LA Voice contestants, and musical entertainment from local school groups (including «USC Trogons» as indicated on the flyer).
Of course, a Chinese street festival is not complete with plenty of lucky draw opportunities. There were at least 5 drawings to win Sceptre TVs. Purchase a Sing Tao newspaper at the entrance to receive a ticket for lucky draw. Many vendors were giving away freebies to promote their company, such as tote bags, samples of noodles/​sauces, paper pads, etc. The best sample was probably the cup of Australian black currant juice, which helps improve our vision sharpness and prevents cataract formation, while tasting very natural.
I noticed that the number of food stalls have increased significantly in the past years. Don’t expect high quality gourmet street food that you’ve never seen before. Think 626 Night Market but with lower prices since the vendor fee is not as expensive. You will find the usual suspects — $ 6 HK egg waffles, overpriced potato spirals, Taiwanese street snacks, curry fish balls, grilled seafood, and Xinjiang skewered meats. The only item representative of what is eaten during Chinese New Year is probably Sham Tseng’s sticky rice with Chinese sausage, but the preparation was so unauthentic and lazy. Ingredients such as sausage, sliced mushroom, and dried shrimp are supposed to be steamed together with the rice (similar to layering meats and spices in Indian/​Pakistan biryani) but Sham Tseng just cooked the sausages and rice separate and added soy sauce. I imagine the product will be too sweet and not as aromatic as the homemade versions.
Parking is horrible at this type of events, so you must come early (before 11am) to secure street parking. Otherwise you will drive around town and give up. I don’t think this is an event worth driving out of your way to come, but if you are a local and happen to be in the area, check out this street festival. This is a fun annual CNY street festival experience and great family outing (especially if you bring elderly) that could last for a couple hours.