San Francisco boasts to have one of the biggest Chinese New Year parade outside of China, but how about their festivals?
I been to Chinese New Year parade before while I was in high school, but I have never been to the afternoon festival portion. Out of pure curiosity, I ventured into Chinatown with my camera.
I was met by crowds and crowds of people. To get to see specifically what the booths are showing, you actually have to line up around the blocks in their “pre-designed” lines!
I tried to line up about 2 times just to see whats all the fuss about. I waited about 20 minutes just for one booth!! In the end, as I approached the booth, a lady told me to spin the wheel while another rings the metal bell. As the wheel stopped, the lady dropped a key chain in my palm. Did I just line up 20minutes for a key chain?!!!!!
I gave up on the booths. I decided to walk around and just enjoy the scenes.
I walked by a display. It was amazing to see the display is as big as the lady’s height.
Some girls were trying to decorate the drum wagon for the night time parade. Many people stopped by and watched them.
Miss Chinese ladies were also out raising money for Chinatown Community fund.Their smile definitely stopped the traffic.
After the greeting from the beautiful ladies, I was looking for booths again, this one the ones that sell traditional Chinese New Year items.
Although I found some, unfortunately majority of the booths were selling things like rice cookers, 12 pack juices, Chinese DVDs, ginseng….
I did though, found other personalities on the streets of Chinatown!
Mr. McDonald was here at the party, with his proper attire and hair color that fits the theme of the festival perfectly!
To be honest, if you want to see all the booths and try to win the free stuff there, I recommend coming early like at 10am when the festival just started. If you just want to eat and enjoy some Chinese cuisine, come at another time when it is less crowded to try the restaurants here (there were no food booths). If you want to enjoy the Chinese New Year atmosphere, the parade at night would be the best. The festival portion was interesting for the first time, yet I can’t help to feel that it has lost its meaning as I saw lines wrapped around the block just trying to win little free things from the booths, and people were selling things I can just get in the Chinese supermarkets.
Honest and a bit brutal, but I hope the festival portion can be better next year when they select the vendors for the booths. Parade though will always rock!
Oh, Annie, your pics are great. I want one of the red fishes with the gold on it. Those are so pretty! And Ronald McDonald’s smiling face? That was nice of him to pose for you, and funny to see him at the Chinese New Year celebration. I never would’ve expected to see him there!!!
I like the red fishes too! Usually the Lunar New Year festivals in Asia would have more booths selling new year related trinkets, posters, and specialty snacks.
McDonald’s booth line was one of the longest, since they were handing out grocery bags, calenders, posters etc. That would have taken me 40-45 minutes if I lined up.
Wow! That place looks so packed! I had to laugh about the keychain. I’ve stood in lines several times only to be disappointed. I’m not sure what prompts us to stand in line when we have no idea what the line is for. I guess plain ole curiosity. I’m glad you had fun.
I usually go to festivals right when it starts to avoid the crowd, but this time I overslept….and yep it was a bad idea to go late.
I use to like to stand in lines just to see what is going on….but now because I am busy and less free time to roam around the city, I see minutes and seconds as gold. XD
how fun! i’ve always wanted to go to a CNY in SF or NY!! kinda disappointed that they didn’t have food booths, though! 😦
I was really sad they did not have food booths. I mean they already have a lot of the restaurants, but it would have been more fun to sample different Chinese food all at the same time.
I suggest only go to the later hours of the festival if you plan to attend the parade. So you can see some festival, go eat dinner, then see the parade.
Ok you’ve convinced me to not visit the festival! Way too crowded but Chinatown in SF is usually very crowded. I agree, the parade is wonderful but you do need to arrive early as it is crowded too.
Yes it was very crowded, I heard some people in the crowd saying “this is crazy! look at all the lines” a couple times XDD haha ~ Parade is crowded, but if you buy a ticket a head of time, you get to sit on the bleachers to enjoy the view.
Wow, this sounds way too crowded! I’m happy I went to the one in San Diego instead!
I think yea San Diego probably has a better festival. However, you should come see the parade portion in San Francisco yourself, they say the parade here is the biggest outside of China ^^ (I will leave that for you or other bloggers to write about =D )
I don’t really enjoy crowds – it’s unavoidable at festivals but sometimes I can’t stay too long when it’s so crowded
It depends on the festival for me. Like some festivals I can have a fun time even when it is crowded, but other ones…..I would leave after an hour.
What a fun time to be in Chinatown. I really like the colorful, vibrant photos. Which alley is that last one taken in? Cool shot.
I remember it was the alley where the famous fortune cookie store is located at(but I forgot the street name). XD
They suckered you in! At least the parade is worth it though.
;_; I know….and I am going to blame Scott for his Chinese festival photos from San Diego, they tempted me to try to go to the San Francisco one.
I think I would have given up on the booths as well and walk around as you did. It looks like you got some great photos and simply walking is one of my favorite ways of getting a feel for a festival or place.