The 15-day celebration includes a big parade and festival through the streets of Chinatown on March 1 and the historic Lantern parade on March 3.

The Fire Horse Lunar New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival in Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Chinatown was alive with lion dancers, firecrackers, confetti poppers, and a crowd of families, students and local leaders on February 17 to mark the start of the Lunar New Year.

The year of the Horse is traditionally associated with strength, momentum, and determination. And while the celebrant ion drew thousands of spectators to the 7.5 acre park for the traditional kickoff, no parade in the city is complete without some political intrigues playing in the background.

Lunar New Year is now an official holiday on the public school calendar, pointed out Assembly member Grace Lee, chair of the Asian Pacific American Task force in that legislative body, but this year it also fell within the public school mid-winter break week.

Lee was on the scene of course as was Congressman Dan Goldman and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander who is trying to unseat Goldman in a Democratic primary in June, former Assembly member Yuh‑Line Niou, a grassroots advocate in Lower Manhattan and council member Chris Marte, whose district includes Chinatown. Also on hand: New York State Senator Brian Kavanagh, presiding over his last Lunar New as an elected official since he is not seeking re-election and Assembly member Lee, who wants the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat.

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