The central Chinatown area in Washington DC is home to a beautiful friendship arch and lots of Asian food joints. During the annual Spring Festival, it also hosts the spectacular Chinese New Year Parade with dragon and lion dances, firecrackers, drummers, and other entertainment.
This annual parade, organized by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), features dozens of entries, such as Chinese folk dancers, kung fu groups, beauty queens, drummers, fortune cookie tossers, Almas Shriners with their clowns, as well as lion and dragon floats. Parade participants include the Chinese Youth Club Lion Dance Troupe, Chinese Culture and Community Service Center Dragon Troupe, Horse Carriage with Miss Chinatown and Asian Princesses, TECRO Chinese School Drum Team, and 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals.
The procession, which starts at 6th & I St, winds through Chinatown and ends at 6th & H St, NW. Although the parade lasts about one hour, from 2 to 3 pm, get ready for some big crowds, loud music, and firecrackers all over the area during the whole day.
During the Spring Festival, many museums and cultural institutions, for instance, Freer and Sackler Galleries in the Smithsonian or John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, also host special exhibitions dedicated to Chinese culture.
