A flying, pink creature was seen looping around the Irvine Spectrum Center before resting below the Giant Wheel on Feb. 9. But what the booms and crashes of its drumline signaled wasn’t the arrival of an unleashed animal — it was a dragon dance, embodying the spirit of the Lunar New Year.
The Spectrum’s annual Lunar New Year celebration featured a temporary wooden snake statue and limited-time promotions, including mooncake sets from 85°C Bakery Cafe. The South Coast Chinese Cultural Association also organized traditional dance, martial arts, instrumental and vocal performances, along with a Korean fashion show.
“It’s very amazing how much work was put into these performances,” volunteer junior Angela Li said. “I really admire seeing all the dancers. I feel very prideful to see them being able to perform and show their talent.”
Lunar New Year on Jan. 29 marked the start of the Year of the Snake, symbolizing wisdom and resilience. The Irvine Company and the association hosted celebrations at The Market Place, Woodbury Town Center, Fashion Island and other shopping centers to showcase Asian businesses.
“I think it’s important to create events that pull cultural traditions out of the community surrounding it,” attendee Maksym Bondarenko said. “It definitely creates a more welcoming and warm environment to shop around.”
Lunar New Year has been celebrated at the Spectrum since 2017, with the association first participating in 2019. Presenters practice year-round for these events, driven by its personal significance.
“Living in the U.S. and born here, you kind of lose a part of yourself,” volunteer senior Sierra Lin said. “Once I started doing this, I realized the importance of my side of culture.”
Although most Lunar New Year celebrations in Irvine have ended, students can still find future Spectrum events at irvinespectrumcenter.com/events-promotions and support the association’s performances at sccca.org.
“Seeing everybody come out to see this reminded me what a special place not just Irvine but the entirety of SoCal is,” sophomore Jiwoo Park said. “There’s just so many rich things that you can explore, and I feel like this event helped to expose a little bit of that to me.”
