Saturday's Cambodian New Year Parade Celebrates Year of the Rabbit

Long Beach's Cambodian community is busily preparing to acknowledge the new Year of the Rabbit, kicking off the monthlong celebration on Saturday with the seventh annual Cambodian New Year's Parade.

The parade is set to start at 10 a.m heading west on Anaheim Street starting at Junipero Avenue and proceeding to MacArthur Park (Warren Avenue). The actual event, however, will begin at 9:30 a.m., when Buddhist monks will bless the event.

According to information provided by the parade's organizers, the Cambodian Coordinating Council, this year's grand marshals are Sara Pol-Lim, Kimthai Kuoch, Jeanetta McAlpin and Steve Meng.

The vivid, culturally-rich event is held each year with several main goals, according to the coordinating council. These include highlighting the Cambodian culture; focusing on the community and businesses located along the Anaheim corridor; shining a spotlight on Long Beach as "Cambodia Town," the largest Cambodian community outside of Cambodia; improving community relations among people of different backgrounds; and illustrating unity within the Cambodian community.

Dalida Lim, an event coordinator, said the parade will be "an exciting, fun-filled event" that features unique and colorful floats, traditional and modern Cambodian dancers, musicians, pedicabs, cyclos and various other performances by various ethnic groups. Altogether, about 50 groups have registered to participate.

"We are expecting tens of thousands of local residents and visitors [will] come together from all over the United States and Cambodia to join this event," Lim said in a prepared statement.

At the parade's conclusion, a program will begin at noon on the main stage at MacArthur Park, and carnival rides and games, which will be up and running starting today through Sunday, will be available in the adjacent parking lot on Anaheim and Warren courtesy of Councilman Dee Andrews.

Source = lbpost