Bank of America, McDonalds and Starbucks? Seattlest is reeling a little from the notion of an overtly corporate party to celebrate the start of the year of the dog at Union station on Saturday, February 4th.
Are we suffering from some naive idea that Chinese New Year celebrations in Seattle would simply erupt in a grass-roots manner from the depths of the International District? Yes, Uwajimaya is one of the many sponsors of the Union Station party, but they're really the Safeway of asian grocery stores, especially considering the panoply of mom-and-pop groceries still scattered around the ID.
We'd hoped to provide you with a decent list of lunar celebrations you could check out, or even participate in. The Seattle Times was as useful as ever in our search, but we have confirmed the following goings-on. If anyone knows of other fetes, drop Seattlest a line to let us know.
Friday 1/27
Magnuson Park Community Center
7:30-9pm
Featuring the Mak Fai Kung Fu Club Chinese Lion Dancers
Saturday 1/28
Redmond Performance Center at Redmond High School
7pm
Promising over 100 performers of traditional music, dance, martial arts, and more
Sunday 1/29
Downtown Winslow, Bainbridge Island
11:30am-4pm
Includes a dog parade
Bellevue Art Museum
Noon-2pm
Focusing on activities for kids, with lion dance at 2pm



try nwsource.com next time. four events listed - Seattle Chinese Garden Lantern Festival at South Seattle Community College, Chinese New Year Festival on Bainbridge, Chinese New Year at the Bellevue Arts Museum, and Chinese Cultural Showcase in Redmond
http://www.nwsource.com/search/scr/search.cfm?as_q=%22chinese+new+year%22 - although if you use that link tomorrow, all those events will be over so they won't be there anymore
Don't forget the awesome activities at the Seattle Asian Art Museum!
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/calendar/calendar.asp?month=1&day=4&year=2006