By Jerold Chinn and Sara Kwan, CORRESPONDENTS

 InsidedBayArea.com - 3.3.07


SAN FRANCISCO - Downtown San Francisco was filled with the lights, sounds and smells of the Chinese New Year Festival and Parade Saturday evening.

The smell of lit firecrackers filled the air and drums beat in a continuous rhythm throughout the entire parade. Red and gold floats with people dressed traditional Chinese outfits slowly paraded down the streets of downtown in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

The weather was fair, temperatures mile, unusual for the parade, which often happens on a rainy evening. Karen Eng, parade spokeswoman, estimated the crowd lining downtown streets at 200,000-300,000

"It's a unique and different celebration. The sheer amount of people that show up, the energy from the crowds, the sights and sounds of the parade makes this one of my favorite parades," said Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Yul Kwon, the winner of last season's Survivor and an honorary Grand Marshal, was among the famous faces that were featured in the parade. He was on the float promoting the Asian American bone marrow donor program.

It was Kwon's first time in the parade, but he wasn't the only one.

Students from Starr King Elementary School, the first Chinese and English language immersion school in San Francisco, made their first appearance in the parade also.

"We have students of all nationalities participating in the parade for us," Martha Vega, Starr King's secretary, said.

Starr King featured children sang a song in Mandarin, English and Spanish.

Sate Senator Leland Y. Yee, D-San Francisco, was on hand to celebrate the year as well. "It's a great parade because all the communities from the Bay Area come together and participate, " Yee said.

Not only were Bay Area communities were represented, but also people from different countries such as Macau and Vietnam.

Miss Chinatown winners were atop floats endorsed by the Harrah's hotel chain. Betty Hsu, this year's Miss Chinatown, was sitting on her throne wearing a tiara and red Chinese traditional dress.

The Yau Kung Moon team is one of the long-time participants. They have been in the Chinese New Year parade since the 1960s, wearing their gol outfits with red belts and leggings.

"We have a lot of schools," David Louie, a master at Yau Kung Moon said. "So every year whenever we do this, it's like a big family reunion."

The colors of the parade amazed almost every viewer.

"Everything was just colorful and bright and all the dragons looked really beautiful," San Francisco resident Becky Schmidt said.

Rich and Joanne Hong from Fremont came with their daughter and friends. "Our daughter was adopted from China and born in the year of the pig so we thought it would be fun to take her here."

The parade was not without its controversy. The Falun Gong group, which has not been allowed to participate in the parade for the past seven years, passed out pamphlets to spectators and was allocated a spot away from the parade by San Francisco police.

"Our own dancing team performed and we showed the audience what we would have been performing if we were in parade," Allen Zeng, a member of the Falun Gong said.

Their pamphlets said they have been persecuted by exclusion in San Francisco, but have participated in many other Chinese New Year's parades, including the parades in San Jose and Hollywood.

The parade ended with the Leung White Crane Martial Arts and Lion Dance School hoisting two 150 feet dragons along with thousands of firecrackers exploding in their path.

"I've been in the parade the last six years and I've always had fun participating," Hai Mohamath, a veteran student at the school, said.