It was a raucous and festivity by way of the streets of Chinatown on Sunday, as tons of of individuals from Philly and past marked each the primary weekend of the Yr of the Snake and a victory of their battle to maintain the Sixers’ proposed Middle Metropolis enviornment from threatening the neighborhood.
Firecrackers, lion dancing from the Philadelphia Suns, and dancing and singing within the streets punctuated the air for hours. Members of the Suns wore patches honoring member Raymond Ling who handed away in 2023.
Among the many performers had been the No Enviornment Flash Choir, with rewritten variations of generations of protest songs from numerous civil rights actions (now accessible on a digital album), Chinatown “aunties” doing conventional fan dances, Philly drag performers doing units to every part from Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Membership” to Disney’s “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” and the PME Drumline and Philly Elmo main the gang to the Electrical Slide and Macarena.
For siblings Maxwell and Maeve, the journey to Philly from Moorestown, New Jersey with mother Meaghan Bertsch to see the lion dance parade was filled with enjoyable and paper lion hats, even when the firecrackers bought too loud at occasions.
PME Drumline’s Tony Royster additionally made positive to affix the festivities with a fancy dress of his personal — not a lion, however Elmo.
“We’re a various group and we’re higher collectively. We have to work collectively, to offer spine and help,” he mentioned of why he wished to affix the celebration and what he appears to be like ahead to in 2025. “We’re a constructive motion. We promote drums for a greater neighborhood. We wish to convey smiles to the hearts of our neighborhoods, and to be position fashions to others.”
Councilmember Kendra Brooks joined the block celebration, as properly, stopping at moveable tables labeled “Historical past” and “Gratitude” to put in writing a message for the brand new yr that, together with different slips of paper from parade-goers, might be included right into a booklet for the brand new yr.
Brooks, who was one in all 5 council members who opposed the world laws, mentioned that the brand new yr will convey continued activism to deal with different ongoing points in Philadelphia.
“For me, this was larger than an enviornment. It’s about bringing folks collectively throughout cultures, a battle for all town’s wants, not simply Chinatown, and about what’s greatest for Market East and town,” she mentioned.
What are folks wanting ahead to within the new yr?
“To proceed the momentum within the Trump administration,” mentioned Brooks. “To remain linked to community-based organizations throughout town. It’s not about neighborhood to neighborhood, however about communities as an entire, so we will construct a metropolis of cohesion and sisterly affection.”
For West Philly resident Kiera Graham, whose job entails working with small companies, coming to the Lunar New Yr lion dance parade — which stopped and carried out in entrance of quite a few native companies, “consuming”/shredding a head of cabbage or lettuce to convey blessings and power to them — was a technique to remind herself of what she needs to battle for within the yr forward.
“We’re stronger in numbers. It may be a rocky 4 years, but when we stick collectively, something is feasible,” Graham mentioned, noting that as a member of the Black, Caribbean and immigrant communities by way of her father, who immigrated from Jamaica, she is “being attentive to queer rights, trans rights, girls’s rights, diseases happening, and the incapacity neighborhood.”
“They’ll’t erase the connections we take without any consideration,” she mentioned. “We take entry without any consideration as able-bodied folks. A second like this helps us return to figuring out we’re all human, and all of us wish to have a wholesome, comfortable life.”
Celebrating the previous yr’s successes whereas making ready for a brand new yr is essential to do collectively, say neighborhood advocates, who echoed Councilmember Brooks in saying Philadelphians want to stay collectively.
“Right here we’re, on the finish of the yr of the dragon, the tail appears to be like again,” mentioned Vivian Chang, government director of Asian Individuals United.
“You see on this celebration, the facility and pleasure in working collectively. I don’t suppose I’ve ever skilled something fairly like this,” mentioned neighborhood advocate Debbie Wei.
“This motion reveals what we will’t settle for from elected officers … They took a vote on a freaking clean piece of paper. That must be horrifying to the entire metropolis. We want to verify they’re accountable to town,” Wei mentioned.
“We had been capable of practice younger folks and had been capable of construct unity throughout town. We’re hopefully turning a brand new web page in how this metropolis works. And we’re nonetheless being attentive to Market East, Northwest Philly, South Philly… and the ink isn’t even dry on [President Trump’s] government orders relating to ICE. It’s nonstop assaults, however we all know we have help, can set up, and unfold neighborhood.”
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Generations of individuals gathered in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025 to have a good time the Lunar New Yr. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Attendees at Sunday’s Lunar New Yr Parade in Chinatown had been greeted by a flying dragon all through the day. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Generations of individuals gathered in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025 to have a good time the Lunar New Yr. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Members of the Philadelphia Suns wore patches throughout Sunday’s Lunar New Yr Parade honoring Raymond Ling who handed away in 2023. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Lions danced by way of sparks and smoke through the Lunar New Yr Parade in Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Generations of individuals gathered in Philadelphia’s Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025 to have a good time the Lunar New Yr. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
The lions left a number of messes behind through the Lunar New Yr Parade on Sunday. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Philly Elmo and a Gritty fan danced in Chinatown on the No Enviornment Block Social gathering and Lunar New Yr celebration on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
PME Drumline and Tony Royston as Philly Elmo carried out the Macarena and different dances on the No Enviornment Block Social gathering and Lunar New Yr celebration on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Debbie Wei of Asian Individuals United and Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture of the Philadelphia Tenants Union embraced on the No Enviornment Block Social gathering and Lunar New Yr celebration on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Attendees of the No Enviornment Block Social gathering and Lunar New Yr celebration had been inspired to put in writing recollections of Chinatown and/or the world battle on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Members of the Philadelphia Suns had been patches throughout Sunday’s Lunar New Yr Parade honoring Raymond Ling who handed away in 2023. (Cory Sharber/WHYY) -
Dancers with the Philadelphia Suns lion dance group carry out on the Lunar New Yr parade in Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
People and animals alike dressed for the event on the Lunar New Yr Parade in Philly Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Attendees wrote messages of gratitude, thanks, and recollections on the No Enviornment Block Social gathering and Lunar New Yr celebration on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
One-year-old Emma Juarez watched the festivities from atop her father’s shoulders on the No Enviornment Block Social gathering and Lunar New Yr celebration on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Members of the No Enviornment Flash Choir carried out on the block celebration and Lunar New Yr celebration on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Drummers with the Philadelphia Suns lion dance group carry out on the Lunar New Yr parade in Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Shometha Monet was one in all a number of drag performers who joined the No Enviornment Block Social gathering in Philly’s Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Sheldon Davids of UC Townhomes and Debbie Wei of Asian Individuals United embraced on the No Enviornment Block Social gathering celebration in Philly’s Chinatown on Feb. 2, 2025. (Heather J. Chin/Billy Penn) -
Attendees at Sunday’s Lunar New Yr Parade in Chinatown had been greeted by a flying dragon all through the day. (Cory Sharber/WHYY)