Chinatown Celebrates Chinese New Year With a Three-Day Festival For the Entire Family

    LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinatown will welcome in the Chinese
 New Year, the Year of the Horse 4700, with a three-day celebration,
 Friday, Feb. 15, to Sunday, Feb. 17.  The festivities will include the Chinese
 New Year Festival and Car Show and the 103rd Annual Golden Dragon Parade.
 Admission is free for all these activities.
     The Festival, to be held at 727 N. Hill St., kicks off the weekend with a
 carnival, entertainment, cultural booths and crafts for children.  The diverse
 entertainment line-up includes a number of Asian-American musical acts, a hip
 hop dance team from UCLA, storytellers from the Here and Now Asian-American
 theater troupe, yo-yo performers, and the screening of the "Bok Choy Boys"
 video.
     Festival attendees will also have the chance to meet representatives from
 the Dodgers, Lakers and other Los Angeles-area teams.  The Laker Girls will
 make an appearance on Saturday, and the Laker Interactive Zone will bring the
 excitement of Laker basketball to the event.
     Festival hours are 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, 12 noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday
 and 12 noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.
     The Golden Dragon Parade will be held on Saturday, beginning at 2 p.m.
 The 2002 Miss Los Angeles Chinatown Queen Tiffany Liu and her court will
 preside over the event.  They will be joined by this year's Grand Marshal, Los
 Angeles Mayor James Hahn, and the Celebrity Grand Marshals, the 83rd Rose
 Queen Caroline Hsu and her Royal Court.
     Chinatown's first-ever car show will be held on Saturday and Sunday, from
 12 noon to 6 p.m. on both days on the Cathay Bank parking lot at Hill and
 Alpine.  Since it is the Year of the Horse, the Ford Special Vehicle Team will
 be in participating with both classic and show models of the Ford Mustang.
 There will also be a competition of approximately 40 of the "Best of the Best"
 domestic and import aftermarket vehicles, including the "The Fast and the
 Furious" Skyline and the Lamborghini Diablo.  On Saturday at 8:30 p.m., there
 will be an evening cruise of the participating cars throughout the streets of
 Chinatown.
     The first night of the Festival will be Castelar Elementary Night.  From
 6 to 8 p.m. on that evening, students of Castelar, Chinatown's only elementary
 school and the second oldest continuing elementary school in Los Angeles, will
 be provided with free unlimited access to all carnival rides and games.
     For more information on the 2002 Chinese New Year activities in Chinatown,
 including the Festival event schedule, reduced-rate parking and street
 closures for the parade, call (213) 680-0243 or visit www.chinatownla.com .
     The Chinese New Year Festival is being co-presented by the Chinese Chamber
 of Commerce of Los Angeles and the Chinatown Business Improvement District.
 Other Festival sponsors include AT&T, Downtown News, Health Net, Pacific
 Alliance Medical Center Health Foundation, and Wing Hop Fung.
 
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SOURCE  Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council