The city of San Francisco welcomed the Year of the Rooster on Saturday evening with marching bands, lion dancers, kung fu performers and elaborate floats winding through Chinatown's streets lined by thousands of spectators.

This year, more than 100 entities participated in the annual Lunar New Year Parade, a celebration that dates back to the 1860s and the days of the Gold Rush, when the traditional Chinese festival was observed by the earliest Chinese immigrants to educate their community and keep their cultural traditions alive.

Today, the Lunar New Year celebration in San Francisco Chinatown is considered the oldest and the largest of its kind outside of Asia. Even local politicians, dressed in red Chinese-style outfits, took part in the parade.

The parade kicked off with a barrage of firecrackers at Second and Market streets and wound around from there through Chinatown. As usual, it lasted about three hours.

Many of the floats featured the theme of this year's zodiac sign - the rooster. Small children were costumed as chickens, smiling and waving to the onlookers.

"I've never been at the parade in San Francisco in person. I've always watched it on TV. It's a wonderful experience. I've never been so close to the action. Everything is beautiful and amazing," said a resident from the East Bay area who declined to give his name.

Every year, the grand finale of the parade is a giant Golden Dragon, 268-feet long. The Golden Dragon, which was made in Foshan, China, displays many artistic touches, including rainbow-colored pompoms on its 6-foot-long head, colorful lights from nose to tail, and silver rivets along both scaly sides. It takes a team of 100 men and women to move the Golden Dragon along the parade route.

The annual event, which combines the Chinese Lantern Festival and American parade, has been named one of the top 10 parades in the world by the International Festival and Events Association.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 02/13/2017 page1)