****loads of firecrackers and cute little kids.

[gurdymonkey]

Keep your string bands, Philadelphia. We've seen your inflatable cartoon characters, New York.

San Francisco has the Chinese New Year's Parade in San Francisco. They have it at NIGHT, which means cool stuff like this:  .
A slideshow of photos from last night's Chinese New Year's Parade in San Francisco.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/02/08/BA3V15PN9G.DTL&o=0
Video and article about awakening the dragon here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/25/BACR15GICJ.DTL&hw=chinese+new+year+supervisors&sn=002&sc=720

The downside to all those firecrackers? The sound quality of the TV broadcast is always a disappointment. We had Ben Fong-Torres and Julie Hayner's commentary loud and clear, but you could barely hear the parading drummers, bands or children's choirs because they'd cranked the sound feed way down - because of the firecrackers. I had to take their word for it that the kids from the Chinese Hospital were singing "A Spoonful of Sugar."

Still, if you like parades, this one clicks my clacker. Sure, there are floats with commercial sponsors, there's the Miss Chinatown pageant chicks in tiaras and cheongsams, but the endless processions of school children in often-homemade costumes bring home how much of a community staple this one is, regardless of Southwest Airlines putting their name on it. Did you know the SF police department has its own lion dancing squad? Heck, they had garbagemen parading.

Fun stuff...

Comments

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

We were busy, but we would have love to see a SF Chinatown New Year Parade live. In NY, they always do it at New Year's Day. Here, they seem to prefer the 15th, the "end" of the New Year period.