Elk Grove welcomes Lunar New Year at Old Town Plaza, honoring the Wood Snake
Residents gathered in Elk Grove’s Old Town Plaza, basking in the aroma of savory treats, boba tea in hand and watching colorful Teng Fei lion dancers as they welcomed the Year of the Snake at the Lunar New Year Celebration on Saturday.
A diverse variety of vendors and artists filled the Old Town Plaza, who sold items ranging from character keychains, anime plushies to handcrafted perfumes as they celebrate the Lunar New Year, which falls on this coming Wednesday.
Kelly Wei, a event volunteer, said she enjoys this event every year. The celebration was organized by the Creative Space, an organization that hosts small business pop-up events across the Sacramento region. Wei, who frequently works with Creative Space, said this celebration brings community together.
“We hang out with our family a lot and it allows like family out of town to all meet up,” Wei said. “We all meet up afterwards to have dinner and then we just celebrate and practice our traditions.”
Inna Quan, Wei’s friend, also helped set up the event. Quan said the celebration not only offers a place to ring in the new year for Asian communities, but serves to show people from other backgrounds the holiday’s traditions.
“We’re spreading our culture to other people,” Quan said. “People from other cultures are able to see all the different things that we do during the new year.”
Emily Miel-Caudi, a self-described lover of “everything cute,” attends Elk Grove’s Lunar New Year celebration annually. She said she’s on the hunt for anything Sanrio and K-pop.
“I just love buying little knickknacks so that’s why I’m here,” Miel-Claudi said. “I like to buy little gifts for my family and myself too. Like, there’s a lot of unique things that you can’t really buy anywhere else other than here.”
The Year of the Snake symbolizes growth, according to the University of Sydney’s School of Languages and Cultures. 2025 is specifically the Year of the Wood Snake.
Elk Grove is holding another Lunar New Year celebration next Saturday, Feb. 1, at Elk Grove Regional Park.
This story was originally published January 25, 2025 at 3:50 PM.
