Chinatown parade celebrates 100th anniversary and new year
BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Staff Reporter fknowles@suntimes.com January 29, 2012 5:20PM
The 2012 Lunar New Year Parade celebrating the Year of the DRAGON 4710 will include marching bands, floats, lions teams and a mystical dragon, with the parade going north on Wentworth ave. in Chinatown. January 29, 2012. | Brian Jackson~Sun-Times
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Updated: March 1, 2012 8:37AM
As far as 5-year-old Mia Zeri and 7-year-old Zeniya Sykes were concerned there was no question, hands down what they liked most about the Chinese New Year parade in Chicago Sunday were the dragons.
The two were among thousands, young and old, who packed the sidewalks in Chinatown for the parade, which celebrated the year of the dragon along with Chinatown’s 100th anniversary.
Sykes wore a bright smile, right after petting the head of a parade marcher garbed in a colorful dragon costume.
“It’s fun,” she said after the creature wandered away to please another parade watcher.
On a sunny, but chilly afternoon, the parade started off with a bang, literally. Chinese firecrackers were set off to start the procession of colorful floats, high school marching bands, community leaders, politicians, and yes more dragons that shook their bodies to the sound of Chinese drumbeats.
The marching bands warmed the crowd with old-school R&B renditions, and the sounds of bagpipes played by the Shannon Rovers Irish bagpipe band also filled the air.
Among those performing was the Morgan Park High School marching band, which played “Happy Birthday” to the crowd.
Seventy-six-year-old Billy Moy joined other members of the Chinese American Legion Post 1001, in walking the parade route, along with his wife, Maria.
“I’m very proud,” he said of marching in the parade for Chinatown’s centennial in the year of the dragon.
“The dragon is the most leading animal,” in Chinese culture, he said. “It signifies greatness.”
Rockford resident Toby Kellogg, was among attendees at the parade. He said when he was a child, his mom used to bring his family to the parade, and he continued the tradition this year by bringing his three sons, including 11-year-old Tait Kellogg.
“It’s awesome,” the younger Kellogg said of his Chinatown visit. He noted he was born in the year 2000, which also was the year of the dragon.
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