Chinatown Hosts Lunar New Year Parade

This year's parade celebrates the Year of the Horse, 4724 on the lunisolar calendar. The procession begins at 1:00 p.m. at the intersection of 24th Street and Wentworth Avenue, traveling north towards a viewing stand at Cermak and Wentworth. The parade features traditional lion and dragon dance teams, colorful floats, and marching bands. The event is a key cultural celebration for one of the largest concentrations of Chinese-Americans in the United States. The organizer, the Chicago Chinatown Community Foundation, is a nonprofit that uses proceeds from this and other events like the Dragon Boat Race for Literacy and the Summer Fair to fund educational causes that promote Chinese culture. Chicago's Chinatown was established around 1912, as settlers moved south from the Loop to escape rising rent and anti-Chinese sentiment. The first Chinese residents had arrived in the city decades earlier, around 1869, following the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Unlike many Chinatowns in other major U.S. cities which have seen their populations shrink, Chicago's is growing. The neighborhood's population has bucked national trends, expanding as a residential and cultural hub. More than a third of Chicago's Chinese population lives in the greater Chinatown area. A 2021 survey showed that about 32% of residents in nearby Bridgeport speak Chinese at home, with the Asian population surpassing others in the area since 2010. The neighborhood continues to see new development, with projects like the SpringHill Suites hotel opening in 2021 and a condo-hotel planned for 2020 S. Archer Avenue. Additionally, the massive 62-acre development known as "The 78" is planned for an adjacent site, which will include a new stadium for the Chicago Fire soccer team.