Vietnamese Tet Festival

Super good BBQ Pork!

The 2009 Tet Festival was Sunday, January 18, and we hadn’t planned on visiting but ran right into the celebration on our way to Saigon Sandwich.
Apparently you have to go early! Other than a pandan waffle stand at Lee’s, most of the food stalls were closing down and there wasn’t much to see or eat by 4PM. The other stalls hawked junky plastic toys, New Year decorations, plants and flowers, and lots of Vietnamese dvds. Nothing much happening on the small stage by this hour.
Looks as though the main event sponsor was Safeway, where they had a long row of booths set up, each with a wheel that you spin for prizes. Prizes being Safeway branded food products. Yep, at one point I stood in line to spin for the chance to win 1) a single granola bar 2) a carton of yogurt, or 3) a stick of string cheese. I walked away with a small cup of baby carrots and then realized I’m not exactly the target market for free food in the Tenderloin, so it was probably time to go.
I commend the organizers for putting on a Tet celebration in the center of such a rough area, and I think this could be a fun event if they would set up more booths for cooked foods and other good things to eat.

Sun. February 3, 2008 was the 12^th Annual Vietnamese New Year’s Tet Festival to celebrate the Year of the Rat.
Since it was my first time I thought it was just ok. Got there around 10:30am and it wasn’t too crowded yet.
Booths: AAA, PG&E, some others I can’t remember.
I liked the freebies: cheap recycle bags, post-​its, pens. One table had the spin the wheel for a nice canvas black bag-​I didn’t get one. not lucky enough.
Eats: some Vietnamese food that you can just buy but can’t eat right away, did see some banh mi though was premade so not sure how they taste, only saw some BBQ meat on a stick that people were eating.
Lion dancing was Great, hubby really enjoyed it.
We went to a Vietnamese restaurant nearby: Bodega Bistro for lunch then left soon afterwards.
Free street parking along Van Ness, pretty easy in the morning.