Asian Market Hosts New Year Celebration

Grand Prairie—People crowded in Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The festival includes dragon dancing, artists, performers, music, and street food from across Asia. While the festival focuses on Asian traditions, all are welcome to celebrate the end of the Year of the Ox, as we enter the Year of the Tiger.

Lily Eao attended the festival.

“We try to attend this festival every year as a family,” Eao said. “My grandmother enjoys it, because she grew up attending these festivals at home. We celebrate it by eating small festival foods, gathering together, watching the lion dance, and other performers. It is our way of celebrating the New Year.

“Part of the focus of the celebration is to spend time together, enjoying the festival mood and the food. Everyone is invited and welcome to come celebrate with us. When I invite someone to join us, I say they should come, eat, and enjoy the vibes.”
Joseph Ho participated in a ping pong tournament.

“This tournament is to celebrate the end of the year,” Ho said. “Ping pong is such a fun sport, and we would like everyone to come join us. Everyone can come and celebrate with us. We play both team and individual in the tournament.
“The Lunar New Year actually starts on the second of February. We come the two weekends before that and celebrate together. It is so nice to see the Asian items, clothes, and to smell all the different Asian food around us.

“Coming up is the Year of the Tiger. There are twelve different animals, one for each year, then it repeats itself. This tradition is similar in all of Asia, so it is a way for us to come together and celebrate.”

Sunu Sohn and Soyoung Lee recently moved to the DFW area.

“We heard there is a big event here, and we decided to drive out to explore,” Sohn said. “We saw the pictures of the street food, and who does not like street food? We decided to come try a few things.
“If you ever wanted to see what it is like in rural Asia, this is it. With all the people, the dragon dancing and music, and the carts with food, this is an authentic experience. This is everything I would have hoped for.”
“We were not sure what to expect, especially since we just moved to the Dallas area,” Lee said. “Moving to Texas, we were worried we would not be able to find authentic Asian experiences. We did not have them in Denver, where we moved from. But this is such a great surprise.”
The festival runs weekends through Sunday, Jan. 30. Asia Times Square is located at 2625 W. Pioneer Parkway in Grand Prairie.