As the last day of Lunar New Year approaches, City of Fremont Mayor Lily May, City of Fremont Vice Mayor Raj Salwan, Councilmembers Teresa Keng, Rick Jones and Yang Shao, Director Sophia Chuang and Deputy Director Maggie Hsu of the Taipei Economic & Cultural Offices in San Francisco (Milpitas) attended the public Lunar New Year Celebration event at Fremont's Downtown Event Center Plaza on February 13th. The event attracted more than 300 local Fremont residents to enjoy the excitement of traditional Lunar New Year celebratory activities during a rare warm winter afternoon.
The event was organized by City of Fremont Councilmember Teresa Keng and Wang & Wu Cultural Foundation Academic Dean Katy Wu. Cultural activity booths were the main attraction, which was hosted by the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Council's Cultural and Folk Art Teachers Group in Bay Area. The teacher group's goal is to introduce their culture to event attendees of all cultures and races. One booth featured auspicious Chinese Calligraphy scroll-writing, another introduced Chinese yo-yo to passersby. The other booths also presented culturally relevant activities such as teaching event attendees how to tell traditional Lunar New Year stories, providing templates for visitors to engage in New Year paper cutting, red envelopes lantern making, traditional dough sculpting, and paper-tear pictures.
The large crowd observed not only a Chinese yo-yo performance but also traditional Lunar New Year interactive storytelling by enthusiastic young students. In addition, the festive lion dancers and powerful kung fu performers helped energize the event attendees. Performers were always met with loud applause that accompanied the end of each performance. Thank you to all event volunteers for passionately sharing your culture with Fremont! Happy Lunar New Year, may this new year treat us well!
