NEVADA CITY, Calif. February 23, 2024 – The Nevada City Chinese Lunar New Year Parade and Festival returns to Nevada City, welcoming the Year of the Dragon this Sunday, February 25, from 12:00-4:30 pm. starting on Commercial Street.
Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra (CATS), along with the Miners Foundry Cultural Center, is proud to present this tenth family-friendly celebration, honoring the early Chinese Gold Rush pioneers and railroad workers of the Sierra. Nevada County was once home to thousands of Chinese, and this event honors their legacy. Commercial Street was also the site of the Old Chinese Quarter, where a garden monument in their honor now sits at the entrance to the Commercial Street parking lot.
Jeannie Wood, Executive Director of CATS, recently joined us at the Rood Center where the Arts in Public Places exhibit honors CATS with ‘A Thousand Cranes—Celebrating 30 years of Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra.’
The community parade begins at 12:00 noon from the Robinson Plaza, at the bottom of Commercial Street and Union Street (by the large Pelton Wheel). It will “meander” up Commercial Street, making a left turn down Broad Street, making a right turn down Bridge Street (Bonanza Market parking lot), and then onto Spring Street, where the Lion and Dragon dancing by Eastern Ways Martial Arts will take place immediately following the parade. Revelers may follow this final parade unit from Commercial Street to Spring Street. After their performance, more entertainment and festivities will take place at the Miners Foundry, for an afternoon of fun for the whole family! Free admission. We thank the Miners Foundry, the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Nevada City, and for their collaboration.
The parade’s Grand Marshal is Eliza Tudor, Executive Director of the Nevada County Arts Council. Parade units include Chinese Lion Dancers and a 72’ Dragon from Eastern Ways Martial Arts of Sacramento; Grass Valley Taiko drummers; students from Bell Hill Academy; “Mulan;” Miss Nevada City Chinatown – Aneka Torgrimson; Falun Dafa; and other community entries.
Food would be available for sale by Kaliko’s Hawaiian Kitchen and K&P Kickin’ Kettle Korn on Spring Street and in the Foundry parking lot. Asian-inspired sweets will be offered by Gold Lantern Baking, a new business doing pop-ups in the area. Asian snacks and select culinary sauces will be offered by Winnie Superette, whose brick-and-mortar store is on Commercial Street. The Foundry Bar will be open for your enjoyment. Vendors include Asian-themed arts and crafts and gifts by Jackie McDaniels and Chinatown Enterprises, a kid’s table by Patty Lum-Ohmann and friends, Chinese tea ceremony demonstrations by Lily Zhu Emmolo, dragon horoscope tattoos by Lincoln Easley, and mahjong for experienced players and lessons for the newbies by Bennett and Jim. The Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission, the Firehouse Museum of the Nevada County Historical Society, and the Nevada County Library round out our exhibitors, among others.
On stage at the Foundry will be performances by Grass Valley Taiko, who has been entertaining and teaching traditional Japanese drumming for over 20 years under the direction of Sensei Mitzi Garnett; the very graceful hula dancers of Grass Valley’s Ka Hale Hula O Pilialohaokalani O Hilo, under the direction of Kumu Hula Pilialoha Christiansen; martial arts by students and teachers of the Body Balance Academy under SiFu Eileen Hancock; Falun Dafa, a spiritual organization with roots in Buddhism, will guide the audience in a meditation; and Lily Zhu Emmolo will enchant us once again with her graceful performance.
Bring the whole family! We hope to see you Sunday!”
Learn more about CATS and their upcoming play “Snow Falling on Cedars” here.
The Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra has been promoting diversity in the arts through theater, events and education since 1994. Its mission is educational and artistic, and CATS has enriched the Sierra Nevada’s cultural climate with works on Asian-based themes. Its shows have garnered many Elly nominations, awards and accolades by SARTA (Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Alliance) as well as locally over the years. For thirty years CATS has offered a unique glimpse into Asian culture through the dramatic arts, providing education for people of all ages and, most importantly, lending agency to the Asian-American voice.