Photo: Celebrate the Lunar New Year in Belmont Center on Sunday, March 15.
The Belmont Pan-Asian Coalition is hosting it’s annual multicultural Lunar New Year celebration taking place in Belmont Center on Sunday, March 15, with a rain date of March 22. The event will take place on Moore and Leonard streets from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. celebrating the culture, community, and the start of the New Year.
“The idea of the celebration is to integrate the API communities, with the the general fabric of Belmont,” said Julie Wu, BPAC president and a co-founder, who spoke to the Select Board via Zoom.
Hundreds of people attend every year we we showcase and honor the police and fire departments, as well as the Select Board members, as well as our Senator William brownsburger and Dave Rogers, and this year
Performancers include Tiger Crane Kung Fu, which is the sister organization of Belmont’s Wu’s Martial Arts, the Boston Korean Traditional Dance Group, while BPAC members and other local organizations will perform a dragon dance, as they did on Belmont Town Day.
This year the celebration welcomes a rolling Lunar New Year Parade which will make a special stop in Belmont. Beginning in Boston’s Chinatown and traveling through communities across Greater Boston, the multi-city motorcade is co-organized by the Chinese-American Heritage Foundation alongside partner community organizations. This year’s parade marshal is Middlesex District Attorney (and Belmont resident) Marion Ryan.
“We’ve received a lot of positive feedback about this event, including from our own membership, who express a lot of joy and pride at having their cultures represented in our town center,” said Wu.
The Belmont Pan-Asian Coalition is a multicultural group with a mission to amplify the voices and visibility of Asians in Belmont, said Wu. The members countries of origin is from all over Asia and the Pacific Islands, including Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Tibet, and France, while Coalition directors hail from Taiwan, Korea, India, China and the Philippines.
“We’re first and second generation immigrants, and we have a variety of political views, and we all work together for a common cause,” said Wu.
“It’s been a great event, and we’re hoping we’ll be as lucky with the weather, so it will also be similarly wonderful event this year,” she said.
“It’s a great event. Brings people to Belmont Center, brings people together. It’s a wonderful celebration and a lot of fun with amazing performances,” said Select Board Chair Matt Taylor.