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Take BART to the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco!

Exit at the Montgomery or Powell Street Stations. The parade starts on Market, goes up Geary, down Post and ends on Kearny at Columbus. To plan your trip, visit www.bart.gov.

To avoid long ticket lines, buy a round trip ticket for the parade in advance at any BART station (tickets have no time limit). This is particularly helpful for families or groups traveling together — each person must have their own ticket and will skip long lines at the ticket machines by purchasing them in advance. To calculate your round trip fare ahead of time, visit www.bart.gov/tickets/calculator/fareCalculator.asp.

Discount BART tickets for seniors and children!
Visit BART Ticket Types for information about discount tickets.

To purchase your discount tickets in advance:
Purchase online at www.bart.gov/tickets/sales/onlineOrdering.asp or at one of the locations listed at www.bart.gov/tickets/sales/retailSales.asp. Enter your zip code to find the location closest to you to purchase tickets, and make sure to call first to make sure that they have the tickets you need available.

Parking At BART Stations
For a list of BART stations with parking, visit www.bart.gov/guide/parking/overview.asp and find the station closest to you.

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Parade Route
 

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Parking Garages

Union Square

• Ellis-O’Farrell Garage
  123 O’Farrell St.
  415-986-4800

• Union Square Garage
  333 Post/Geary
  415-621-6751

• Sutter-Stockton
  330 Stockton/Sutter
  415-982-7275

• Fifth & Mission Garage
  833 Mission/5th St.
  41582-8522

• Four-Fifty Sutter Garage
  450 Sutter Street
  415-421-4444

Chinatown

• Portsmouth Square Garage
  733 Kearny/Clay
  415-982-6353

• Savoy Garage
  170 Columbus Avenue
  415-421-6057

• St. Mary’s Square Garage
  433 Kearny Street, SF
  415-956-8106

• Vallejo Street Garage
  Vallejo At Powell Street

Moscone Center/Yerba Buena Gardens

• Moscone Center Garage
  255 3rd St./Howard St.
  415-777-2782

• Museum Parc
  Third & Folsom St.
  415-543-4533

Embarcadero

• Embarcadero Center Garages
  415-398-1878

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Public Transportation

AC Transit: Serves Berkeley, Oakland and other East Bay communities. In SF, buses depart from the Transbay Terminal and Financial District. (510) 839-2882.

BART: Links San Francisco with the East Bay and Daly City. In SF, trains run underground along Market Street. Stops at Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell, Civic Center. (415) 992-2278.

CalTrain: Rail service to the Peninsula, San Jose. In SF, trains depart from the San Francisco Cal-Train Station. 4th St./Townsend (800) 660-4287.

Golden Gate Transit: Serves Marin County, parts of Sonoma. In SF, buses stop on Lombard St., Van Ness Ave., Geary Blvd., Financial District, Transbay Terminal. (415) 923-2000.

SamTrans: Serves San Mateo County including the San Francisco International Airport, Palo Alto, Daly City. In SF, buses stop in Financial District, Transbay Terminal. (800) 660-4287.

Muni: For complete schedule information call (415) 673-MUNI.

In 1847 San Francisco was a sleepy little village known as Yerba Buena with a population of 459. With the discovery of gold and the ensuing California Gold Rush, by 1849, over 50,000 people had come to San Francisco to seek their fortune or just a better way of life. Among those were many Chinese, who had come to work in the gold mines and on the railroad. By the 1860’s, the Chinese were eager to share their culture with those who were unfamiliar with it. They chose to showcase their culture by using a favorite American tradition - the Parade. Nothing like it had ever been done in their native China. They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street carrying colorful flags, banners, lanterns, and drums and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.

Since 1958, the Parade has been under the direction of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. At that time, it was moved from the afternoon to the evening so as not to compete with the very popular Miss Chinatown U.S.A. contest. The Parade remained a local community activity along Grant Avenue until the mid 1970’s, when the fire department and ever growing crowds dictated that the Parade route be moved to wider streets.

When KTVU, Channel 2, started televising the Parade in 1987, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce realized that although the Parade would still represent the community,its growth would demand a commitment to higher quality and corporate sponsorship involvement. The Chinese New Year celebration was expanded to a two week Festival including a Flower Market Fair and Community Fair.

Today, the San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is the largest celebration of its kind in the world, attracting over three million spectators and television viewers throughout the U.S., Canada, and Asia with the help of both KTVU/Fox 2 and KTSF, Channel 26 (Chinese broadcast).

The parade still welcomes a variety of other groups to join in the march, and still hopes to educate, enrich and entertain its audience with the colorful pageantry of Chinese culture and tradition. In order to retain the integrity of the Parade, participants are asked to tie their float or specialty unit to a Chinese cultural theme. We are honored and delighted to have representatives from other Asian cultures participating in this year’s festivities.

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Named one of the top ten Parades in the world by IFEA, the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is one of the few remaining night illuminated Parades in the country. Started in the 1860s by the Chinese in San Francisco as a means to educate the community about their culture, the Parade and Festival have grown to be the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia. Since 1958, the parade has been under the direction of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

Over 100 units will participate in the Chinese New Year Parade. A San Francisco tradition since just after the Gold Rush, the parade continues to delight and entertain the many hundreds of thousands of people that come to watch it on the street or tune in to watch it on television.

Nowhere in the world will you see a lunar new year parade with more gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, ferocious lions, exploding firecrackers , and of course the newly crowned Miss Chinatown U.S.A. and her court. A crowd favorite is the spectacular 200ft Golden Dragon (Gum Lung) It takes a team of over 100 men and women from the martial arts group, White Crane to carry this dragon throughout the streets of San Francisco.

Tags: chinese new year, chinatown, chinatown parade, chinese parade, chinese new year parade, parade, chinese festivals, san francisco, miss chinatown, spring festival