Sunset Park celebrated Lunar New Year in style on Sun., Feb. 10 at the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association’s annual parade.
The event, officially dubbed the “Chinese New Year Celebration Parade,” is put on each year by the BCAA and, this year, marked the dawn of the Year of the Pig.
Festivities began at 11 a.m. at the grandstand at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street, where a bevy of performances and various other cultural activities enthralled attendees.
As in past years, the afternoon affair included a fireworks display, a traditional lion dance, a Kung-Fu demonstration and a mass of creative works by local schoolchildren.
The parade kicked off at 1 p.m. and concluded around 2:30 p.m. at 61st Street.
As part of the celebration, the traditional Chinese lion dance is performed in front of each store that is passed in hopes of bringing good luck and good fortune to the community.
In Chinese culture, pigs are the symbol of wealth.
The BCAA was founded in 1988 and is based in Sunset Park.
According to its website, the non-profit was started “in response to the growing needs of the Asian-American communities” within Sunset Park, Borough Park and Bay Ridge.