Lunar New Year Events
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SendFCC-SoCal is delighted to welcome its new 2010 New Year Event Committee Co-Chairs: Mike and Kim Barrett, Karen Drew, Alice Goldstone and Albert Olson. For more information contact: cnybanquet@fccsocal.org.
The FCC-SoCal Banquets
Since 1998, FCC-SoCal families have been gathering in Los Angeles’ Chinatown to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year. The event started in the Year of the Tiger with 4 tables and 40 moms, dads, waiting parents and children in a small room in the back of the Empress Pavilion. By 2005, FCC-SoCal families filled the entire Empress Pavilion (the largest restaurant in Chinatown) to capacity. Since 2006, FCC-SoCal has hosted twin banquets to accommodate all of our families, entertaining nearly 1,600 guests each year.
At each event, more than 50 tables fill the dining room. A family-style multi-course dinner is served to each table. Throughout the evening, music plays, families and kids socialize, and Asian performers entertain the crowd with acrobatics, juggling, lion dancing, martial arts and magic. Miss Chinatown and her court also pay a royal visit. Families also enjoy bidding on kid-friendly silent auction and opportunity drawing items.
The festivities conclude with the dragon dance and “bubble wrap” stomp (simulating the sound of firecrackers). It’s always festive and exciting, and also unfailingly touching to see a gigantic room full of happy families and hundreds of joyful children and youth! Being in the room provides a wonderful visual for our kids and parents alike – we are part of an amazing community of adoptive families. There’s nothing else quite like an FCC New Year banquet at Empress Pavilion!
Parade, Firecracker Rune and Other Events
In addition to enjoying the banquet, FCC-SoCal families also march in the Golden Dragon Parade as guests of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. Kids and parents also participate in the Firecracker Run through Chinatown.
Check this site's News & Events blogs and the Calendar for information during the New Year season.