Year of the Tiger Banquets a Big Success
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The Year of the Tiger roared into town with two banquets for FCC SoCal members and their guests on Feb 6th and 27th. Our annual tradition of gathering to celebrate and re-connect continued for its 13th year, though this time with a new committee at the helm. Many thanks to Jeri, Susan and Lee for making this a favorite event for so many years and giving the new bunch an easy template to follow.
Though the first banquet was smaller than in recent years with about 250 people, it was lovely to have a bit more elbow room and the opportunity to mingle with friends and actually hear them. The Lion Dance topped off the evening with a particularly thrilling performance with lots of interaction with the kids. Their high voltage energy led us all onto the bubble wrap for the loud dance of joy. Everyone had a huge grin on their faces watching the kids let loose with glee.
The second banquet filled the room with nearly 500 members and guests. The Lion Dancers kicked us off with a high octane performance that jump started the evening. Soon after we welcomed Miss Chinatown and her princesses (who were actually being crowned during our first banquet). Miss Chinatown herself is also a China Care Bruin big buddy to an FCC kid!
There were five little babies to welcome. Each one was introduced to great applause and given the traditional FCC panda bear to welcome them to our extended family. It was thrilling to see some of the long waiting families become parents this year!
We also introduced our Year of the Tiger kids. The wonderful DJ Justin gave us the right soundtrack with "Eye of the Tiger" blaring while the kids were presented with small mementoes to mark their special auspicious 12th year.
The popular entertainers included our favorite acrobat, Sha Sha, who appeared in an entirely new costume. And Min Tran and Jason Jiang brought us delightful magic and their particular brand of hijinks.
Though there was some discussion of the merits of the egg custard tarts versus the formerly served lemon tarts, the FCC SoCal CNY banquets remain a favorite for our members as a happy celebration and our own yearly family reunion. See you next year!
Your CNY Committee,
Alice Goldstone, Kim and Mike Barrett, and Karen Drew
Check out a full gallery of photos from the second banquet here. (Courtesy of Marcia and Ben Luce)