SF Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon
This morning, the Chinese lady who cuts my hair told me that there would be a big Chinese New Year celebration in town, and it happened that I was just going to finish a dentist's appointment nearby at about the time the parade started.
I was impressed by the scale of the parade, as well as the number of spectators - definitely more than the spectators at Pride Parade in the summer!
This was the first dragon that went by. This is the type where the dragon dancers are "inside" of the dragon.
Here's one where the dancers prop up the dragon's body with sticks. I like how wavy it becomes.
There were quite a few contingents from area schools. Sure, there were International Schools and Chinese immersion schools, but many of the schools were regular public schools. This group of fan and ribbon dancers were from West Portal Elementary School.
Of course, companies get in the act too. Here's a giant shopping cart from Lucky supermarket. Notice that the steering wheel is controlled by the guy on the right side of the picture. This was followed by a Chinese New Year specific float. (They probably use this shopping cart for all sorts of festivals.)
McDonald's had a nice float, with a drummer, too. The Ronald McDonald was speaking English. Not sure if he spoke Chinese, too.
