We went to a Chinese New Year festival in Raleigh over the weekend. Yes, I know Chinese New Year was more than a month ago. The event, organized by the Triangle Area Chinese American Society of North Carolina, was originally scheduled for before the Chinese New Year but got pushed back thanks to the rare deluge of snow we received.

We spent about five hours at the festival, and I spent much of that time peering through my camera’s viewfinder. The event was a perfect place for a photographer looking for interesting things to shoot: Lots of vibrant colors, lots of activity on and off stage, and lots of cute kids. I came home with almost 700 pictures, and I’m still only about halfway through editing and uploading them.

There were lots and lots of dancing on stage. For me, the highlights were the lion dance, dragon dance, and a couple of the folk dances where the performers wielded large fans. The highlight for Courtney might’ve been when we sneaked out for a little while and stumbled upon a bead shop while exploring the flea market outside. That and all the adorable little munchkins running all over the place. The talent competition was hilarious just for the fact that nothing says “Chinese New Year” more than break dancing, hip hop karaoke (but with the singing on the original track at full volume), and a guy playing harmonica to a tune straight out of Back Porch Music. Harmonica guy won, by the way. I’ll post some video clips when I get done with my photos.