Celebrate! Ben Fong-Torres co-hosts Southwest Airlines® Chinese New Year Parade Feb 24, 2018

February 15, 2018

San Francisco

Happy Lunar New Year! The Lunar New Year begins Friday, February 16, 2018!

Ben Fong-Torres and Julie Haener co-host Southwest Airlines® Chinese New Year Parade on February 24 in San Francisco beginning at 5:15pm PST. Organizers expect 1.2 million people will be attending in person.

The Parade will be broadcast live on KTVU Fox 2 or KTSF Channel 26 6:00-8:00pm Saturday February 24, 2018 on television! Watch the Parade live from the streets in San Francisco - the largest of its kind outside of Asia! It will weave its way through San Francisco Chinatown and ends at Jackson and Kearny Streets. Here's a report which includes comments on the 60-year parade tradition from Ben Fong-Torres on NBCNews.com. 

Named one of the top ten Parades in the world by International Festivals & Events Association, this is truly a sight to see.

The parade began in San Francisco more than one hundred years ago, and is one of the few remaining night illuminated parades in North America.

This year the Southwest Airlines® 2018 Chinese New Year festivities range from the great Chinese New Year parade, to street fairs, a fashion show, and many other events beginning February 10 and run through the month of February and into early March. Bobo the parrot says Gung Hay Fat Choy!

This Lunar year marks the Year of the Dog. Here is a beautiful watercolor rendition of the Dog, as painted by the late, great former US Ambassador and former longtime Secretary of State of California March Fong Eu. 

The Chinese zodiac is in a twelve year cycle with twelve different animals. Your Lunar horoscope animal is the dog if you were born in 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006. Astrologists say 2018 will be the first year of the earth dog since 1958.

A crowd favorite is the spectacular 268' Golden Dragon ("Gum Lung"). It takes a team of over 180 men and women from the martial arts group, White Crane, to carry the Golden Dragon through the streets of San Francisco.

For information on the Southwest Airlines® Chinese New Year Parade route and other festivities check the calendar listings here:

http://www.chineseparade.com

http://www.ktvu.com/entertainment/chinese-new-year-parade/2018-chinese-new-year-parade-takes-place-feb-24th

https://www.sftourismtips.com/chinese-new-year-san-francisco.html#.WnD1Q9Jm0PI.facebook

Bobo the parrot says Gung Hay Fat Choy!

And - Coming soon! Ben Fong-Torres is the subject of a feature documentary film

! LIKE A ROLLING STONE: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres   Stay tuned!