By Sean Rhomberg
Medill Reports
Dancing, drumming and lots of delicious food packed Asia on Argyle Street in Uptown for the annual Lunar New Year celebration held to welcome in the Year of the Tiger.
Hosted by the Uptown United Commission and 48th Ward Ald. Harry Osterman, the annual tradition included family-friendly arts and crafts as well as a parade that featured more than 20 different community organizations such as the Vietnamese Association of Illinois and the Chinese Mutual Aid Association.
People of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds came together to join in the four-hour-long celebration despite frigid temperatures and the snowy sidewalks that lined the parade route.
Transcript:
Narration: The Argyle Lunar New Year celebration welcomed in the Year of the Tiger with a parade and family-friendly activities.
Dating back over 40 years, the festival brings in members from all across the community to celebrate.
For Lanialoha Lee of the Aloha Center of Chicago, the celebration hits close to home.
Lanialoha Lee: The Chinese community up here is very much like our family in the Islands.
Narration: And for others, the Lunar New Year is an opportunity to explore different cultures.
Christine dePedro: We moved here and discovered this neighborhood with all the Southeast Asian people, and I’m drawn to it.
Narration: In addition to the parade, Argyle’s celebration featured family arts and crafts and an opportunity to take in the local art.
The parade route, which wrapped around a large section of Uptown, featured over 20 local community groups and may gain one more next year.
Lee: This is our second time, and the third time I think we’re going to pull out the float and just jam.
And it wouldn’t be a celebration without …
dePedro: The food!
