Flower fair: Annual event opens S.F.’s Chinese New Year’s celebration
San Francisco’s Chinese New Year celebration officially began Saturday, and some say this lunar year will be a favorite among the crowds.
That’s because it’s the Year of the Dog and, well, dogs are cute.
Chinatown’s annual Flower Market Fair kicked off festivities for the Lunar New Year, as scores of revelers walked down colorful booths on Grant Avenue to buy flowers and good luck knickknacks, or watch a small parade ahead of the big one to come on Feb. 24.
The Rev. Norman Fong was at the main stage for the event, telling the crowd this year would be a special one.
“This is a whole new beginning” said Fong, executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center. “This is going to be one of the best years.”
The young and not so young walked for blocks down the sidewalk market Saturday. Some in the crowd held newly purchased flowers wrapped in newspaper. Others held plastic flowers that doubled as wind spinners. And just as many people are expected Sunday, when the event continues.
For $6, fairgoers could walk away with a bunch of yellow mums. For $15, red azaleas. For $3, four pounds of bagged oranges — a symbol for abundant happiness.
Plants didn’t bring out Nicole Lui to the event. She held a bag of popcorn as she looked on at the booths.
“In truth, I am only here to get fortune cookies,” she said.
Still, flowers symbolize the start of Chinese New Year festivities in San Francisco, which boasts one of the largest Chinatowns in the nation.
A number of civic officials gave short speeches at the fair, each welcoming the crowd with their best pronunciation of “Gung Hay Fat Choy,” a way to say “Happy New Year.”
As Mayor Mark Farrell addressed the crowd, he noted this year would be the first since the death of Mayor Ed Lee, San Francisco’s first Asian American mayor.
“This Year of the Dog is a special time. I think that we need to remember our late Mayor Edwin Lee and his contribution and his meaning to our Chinese community here in San Francisco,” Farrell said. “I am honored to be here to really begin that legacy and to continue to remember him and everything that he did for the city of San Francisco.”
Just off Grant Avenue on Jack Kerouac Alley, two brothers helped sell trinkets for the Chinese New Year. The family store, Asia Star Fantasy, has been a fixture on Grant Street for more than a decade, said Francis Law, who was looking after his parents’ booth.
They decorate the wall of the alley each year with red envelopes celebrating the year’s zodiac sign, he said.
“We just did all this just so we could show we’re kind of contributing to the community,” said Law, 23.
The booth offered stuffed dogs, Chinese lion hand puppets and fidget spinners — just for fun.
Law said he was born in the Year of the Dog, so it’s his favorite. But, he added, it’s “a lot of people’s favorite. Dogs are cute.”
His younger brother, Gary Law, has to wait two more years for his zodiac sign, the Rat, but he was ready to celebrate nonetheless.
The New Year’s celebration is “pretty important to Chinese culture,” Gary Law, 21, said. “It’s pretty much the biggest holiday of the Chinese culture. It’s usually when families come together.”
Every New Year marks a time to be with family, and Fong told the crowd that this year’s zodiac sign served as an added reminder.
“The dog is loyal,” Fong said. “Think about your family. Don’t take them for granted. Celebrate loyalty.”
“It’s pretty much the biggest holiday of the Chinese culture. It’s usually when families come together.” Gary Law, who helps operate his family’s store, Asia Star Fantasy