Chinatown came alive Sunday afternoon with explosive color, laughter and music as Chicago celebrated the Lunar New Year with a lively parade.
Brandy Kline, who attended the parade with her 4-year-old, said she had moved to the city from Milwaukee a year and a half ago in order to meet new people and be around different cultures. She now lives in Avondale.
“(We’re) trying to sort of, now that the pandemic feels like it’s coming down, to spread out and spend some time in other neighborhoods, and spend money locally, support all the businesses that are still trying to pull back,” said Kline, who had been carrying her daughter on her shoulders.
[ Face masks selling out and Lunar New Year events canceled as Chicago’s Chinese community reacts to coronavirus spread ]
Dragons danced up South Wentworth Avenue under red lanterns hanging across the street as people dressed up as rabbits bounced along. This Chinese New Year fell on Jan. 22, marking the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit.
The parade traveled from the intersection of West 24th Street and South Wentworth Avenue north toward the viewing stand at Cermak Road and Wentworth. Marching bands marked the parade with a drumming beat and booming trumpets.
Paradegoers swarmed restaurants and shops as the parade drew to a close around 1:40 p.m. Snow covered the distinctive roofs of the buildings that lined the street, establishments brimming with patrons.
Outside a souvenir shop, Zach Knoch waited with his two sons for his wife and daughter. Knoch told the Tribune he met his wife in China while they were teaching there for a few years. His oldest son is 11 — which makes this his Year of the Rabbit.
Knoch and his wife had been to the Chinese New Year Parade eight years ago and enjoyed it.
“We like Chinese culture, and we decided this was a good year to kind of come back,” he said. “The kids were just the right age, so it was kind of good timing.”
The Knoch family was headed to lunch — dumplings, maybe, said…
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