GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas—Each year, communities from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area gather at Asia Times Square to celebrate the Lunar New Year Festival, marking a time of cultural pride, tradition and unity.
This Lunar New Year festival ran over three weekends, beginning Feb. 6 and ending on Feb. 22.
Family-friendly destination
The 19th annual Lunar New Year celebration at Asia Times Square drew large crowds, providing a family-friendly destination for visitors. The event draws attendees from across the Metroplex to celebrate the holiday with food, performances and cultural activities.
Attendees enjoyed a variety of activities, including food vendors, merchandise stalls, lion dances and live performances. The food offerings ranged from sweet treats to savory entrees, including mochi doughnuts, ramen, tempura and other Asian and international dishes.
Lunar New Year is an important holiday for many Asian communities, bringing families, relatives, and friends together to celebrate the start of the new year. The holiday symbolizes blessings, prosperity and fresh starts. One vendor at the Asia Times Square event said the celebration represents the start of the new year and growth.
“Lunar New Year is the celebration of the Asian culture,” said Mallory Tran, owner of the malcoffeeclub, a matcha and coffee pop-up. “It’s the start of a new year, new blessings, new opportunities and new growth.”
Every hour during the Lunar New Year Festival, the lion dance performers Jiu Long Troupe and Tu Van Lion Dance performed to ensure good luck and prosperity in the New Year.
Live entertainment featured
Live performance at the festival featured notable entertainers including Hohyun, NiNi, and mentalist Grant Price. The event also included K-Pop performances, drawing fans of the genre from across the region.
During peak hours at the Asia Times Square Lunar New Year Festival, vendors offered a wide variety of foods, drinks and merchandise. Festival-goers could purchase specialty beverages such as Matcha Pop-Ups, browse posters featuring characters from Demon Slayer, shop album collections on CD and pick up collectibles—including key chains and stickers featuring Hello Kitty. Souvenirs and other themed items were also available throughout the market.
But food is always a star attraction at Asian festivals, with vendors offering a wide range of Asian cuisine. Popular items include beef skewers, papaya salad and chili oil noodles, along with numerous other traditional and modern dishes representing diverse Asian culinary traditions.
“Well, food is very important part of our event, and so a lot of street food from Vietnam, Thai, Cambodian, we have Taiwanese noodles, everywhere,” said Matthew Loh, CEO of Asia Times Square “We have a huge variety of different Asian cuisine.”
Loh said his decision to host a festival during the important holiday stemmed from his father’s desire to mark the occasion as he’d enjoyed it in Vietnam.
“When we came over here, my dad wanted to celebrate Lunar New Year, just like he did back home,” Loh said. “We decided to host a free Lunar New Year Celebration.”
Preserving cultural traditions
The event is important to Asian communities because it helps preserve cultural traditions and pass them on to younger generations.
“Our seniors get to celebrate the way they used to celebrate,” Loh said. “And more importantly, I want to pass on that tradition to the youth, the younger generation. I think it’s extremely important as Asian Americans to not lose our roots.”
Loh said that idea is baked into Asia Times Square’s existence.
“That’s why Asia Times Square, we have a mission statement,” Loh said. “Mission statement is preserving tradition, promoting culture.”
Loh said this year’s celebration won’t be the last.
“This is a 19th year hosting it, and we will continue to host this Lunar New Year,” Loh said. “Every year and it’s always, always important for us that we bring more and more people to come celebrate, people from different backgrounds, but also make sure that it’s completely free to the public.”
Visitors said they appreciated the festival.
“The ambience is pretty nice,” customer Joseph Nguyen said. “A lot of people around us, everyone’s pretty friendly. That’s just about it.”
Others extended the compliments of the season.
“I hope all my customers have good luck,” Tran, the matcha and coffee vendor, said. “New opportunities to grow, big blessings and lots of fortune.”
During the third weekend of the festival, no vendors were scheduled, with programming focused instead on cultural performances. The festivities featured a traditional firecracker show and lion dances performed by the Phap Quang Lion Dance team and the Jiu Long Troupe Lion Dance team.
In addition to its annual Lunar New Year celebration, Asia Times Square hosts several events throughout the year, including the Mooncake Festival, HK Market Night and the Asian Heritage Fest.