Chinese New Year Parade

Sunday, February 18th: This was the first time (that I can remember) I've been to a Chinese New Year Parade in Vancouver's Chinatown. I arrived at Keefer Street at around 11:45am. The parade route was only 7 city blocks (around 1 kilometer), and the parade started at noon. I didn't go to the beginning of the route as it was too crowded. So I stood on the sidewalk at the halfway point of the route. I saw the first marchers of the parade at 12:25pm, and the last group passed by me at 2:15pm.

I came prepared to shoot lots of photos, and even a few short video clips. I shot more than 500 photos, so here are 24 of them:


There were very few motorized vehicles in the parade; it was mostly marchers and dancers. At various times, people lit firecrackers that made lots of noise and a stinky smoke. I saw 12 or more lions (each lion costume had 2 people inside) in the parade. After the parade ended, it looked like all those lion dancers were at work going from store to store and getting those cabbage and red envelope prizes.