Tết Lunar New Year Festival in Santa Ana celebrates community's Asian culture

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Santa Ana is ready to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. The city's Tết Lunar New Year Festival commemorates the community's Asian culture.

"This is a significant holiday for many Asian Americans including our Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean members. So today, it's about eating great food and doing great activities to bring our families and our friends together," said Jennifer Wang with the Asian American Senior Citizens Service Center.

The variety program, which was held on Feb. 3, involved lots of children who were mesmerized by the lion and dragon dancers. And the adults enjoyed it as well. It was a wonderful event for the entire family.

"I loved it. It's a very family friendly event. Definitely good to introduce the kids to the Vietnamese Tết and have some fun and get to play," said Thu Phan. "It's special to us. I'm Vietnamese and obviously I want them growing up also knowing about the Vietnamese culture so this is a nice introduction to them."

Orange County is home to one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside of Vietnam. The Lunar New year celebrates one of the twelve Zodiac animals, and 2024 is the Year of the Dragon, a major symbol in the Vietnamese culture.

"Yeah, you know having the first ever Santa Ana Tết festival just really shows you the cross cultural, collaboration, community relationships, and really learning about each other here in the city of Santa Ana. I'm just so proud to be a big part of it," said Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem Thai Viet Phan.

This year, the date for the Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 10.