Parades

[GeneChing]

We need a general parade thread. We have the Chinese Freemason Parade in Vancouver next weekend (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?24833-Chinese-Freemason-Parade-in-Vancouver-next-weekend) and Ninja Parade (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?48711-Did-anyone-see-the-ninja-parade) :p, but that's all? Yeah, we need this here, just for starters.



'The oldest continuous parade in California,' the Bok Kai Parade in Marysville (https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/marysville-bok-kai-parade/103-c1d1935f-9ec6-4263-ab35-25e506ac9843) | Need to Know
With more than a century under its belt, the parade has weathered wars and even the Great Depression.
Author: Eric Escalante
Published: 3:52 PM PST February 19, 2020
Updated: 3:52 PM PST February 19, 2020

MARYSVILLE, Calif. — The Bok Kai Parade is returning to Marysville, continuing a more than century long celebration.

"It’s the oldest continuous parade in California," Candice Young Fresquez said. "It’s survived many wars, the [Great] Depression, and they still had the parade continue.”

Thousands of people flood into the town of Marysville every year for the parade and "Bomb Day," a unique celebration that Young Fresquez says doesn't happen anywhere else.

What is the Bok Kai Parade
The Bok Kai Parade and festival has roots dating back to the 1880s. Young Frezquez said the parade started with the Chinese immigrants who came to work on the railroads during the Gold Rush era.

At one point, Marysville had the third largest Chinatown in California. With the culture there, the community began celebrating the Bok Eye, a water deity meant to protect the town from floods and provide water to crops.

Over the years, the festival has retained its cultural elements, but it has also become a community event, bringing vendors, crafts, and music for festival goers.

“Outside of San Francisco, there isn’t a parade that continues in the same aspect of what Marysville has,” Young Fresquez said.

Things to do in Marysville during the Bok Kai Parade
There's food, crafts, and even a children's area during the Bok Kai Parade. However, the highlight of the festival is the parade.

The parade features "Hong Wan Lung," a 175-foot-long dragon manned by Beale Air Force Base. Over at 2nd and C Streets, you'll even be able to see the firecrackers go off and performances launch into action.

9:30 a.m. - Vendor and Children's area opens on 3rd Street and D Streets (Park area) and 1st and C Street (Parking Lot).

11 a.m. - Parade Starts at the corner of 6th and D Streets.

1:30 p.m. - Approximate ending time of the parade.

2:30 p.m. - Lion Dance blessings of downtown Marysville businesses.


3 p.m. - Approximate ending time of Vendor area at 3rd and D Streets.

4 p.m. - Lion Dance Performance at 113 C Street.

4 p.m. - Vendor area at 1st and C Streets closes.

Sunday also features a unique spectacle called "Bomb Day," during which a giant firecracker gets fired off into the middle of a roped off intersection. Men then search for a ring that is blown off the firecracker, which is meant to bring the man who finds it good fortune. Participation for the event is limited only to men of Chinese descent.

For more information, click HERE (https://www.bokkaiparade.com/home.html).

When and where is it?
The 140th Bok Kai Parade kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 22 in downtown Marysville. The final day is Sunday, Feb. 23.

There are multiple locations for the events, but you'll find the parade starting at 6th and D Streets. The vendors are located at 3rd and D Streets and 1st and C Street, and the Lion Dance at 113 C Street.

[GeneChing]

LOCAL
New museum opening in one of Northern California's oldest Chinese temples (https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/bok-kai-temple-museum/103-d06fa7ce-8621-42c6-8343-882c3fca8a0f)
The Bok Kai Temple in Marysville has centuries of Chinese history on display.
Author: Eric Escalante
Published: 1:52 PM PST February 19, 2020
Updated: 8:20 PM PST February 19, 2020

MARYSVILLE, Calif. — One of the oldest operating Chinese temples in Northern California is opening a museum highlighting nearly 200 years of Chinese history.

The Bok Kai Temple Museum in Marysville will carry a display of 300 artifacts that were previously hidden away in storage, including what is believed to be the oldest Chinese dragon to have ever come to the United States.

“To me, if nobody saves those pieces of history, they would be in boxes and they would rot, and I had a really big problem with my culture and history rotting in boxes,” Heather Young, project manager for the museum, said.

Young has spent more than four years on the project, aiming to share centuries of Chinese history and stories in a city once known as the third largest Chinese population in California. While the population was once booming, she says the community started to dwindle around the 1950s and 60s, leaving the Chinese community scarce.

The Bok Kai Temple is one of the oldest operating Chinese temples in Northern California, with its origin stretching back to the 1850s before it was rebuilt in 1880. It was renovated more than a decade ago, and it has been carrying centuries of artifacts that had been stored away in boxes.

Those artifacts were a big reason why Young took the project on.

“I didn’t like the fact that all of those people’s sacrifices and all of those stories and all of those moments in history would be lost if no one actually put them on display and told people about it,” Young said.

Four years ago, Young started a Kickstarter campaign to turn two rooms of the historic temple into a museum, and she ended up with double the amount she originally asked for from people. She even got help through private donations and a state grant to bring the project to life. Graduate students from San Jose State University were called to help the museum catalog and identify the hundreds of artifacts that had been brought to the temple over the years.

The museum has displays of hand-carved sedan chairs, old photographs, opium pipes, and small shoes for foot binding. When you explore the museum, it wouldn't be unusual to find a hat on display and later, find a photo with the exact same hat from another time period.

“For a while there, I wasn’t quite sure if I opened Pandora’s box or not," Young said. "I wasn’t quite sure if doing this project was a smart idea because it was just sheer massive amounts of information and massive amounts of things we needed to do in order to preserve this history."

Years later, the efforts and fundraising paid off, and the history held in the temple is nearly ready to be put on display.

The museum is preparing for its grand opening on Friday, Feb. 21, which coincides with the 140th Bok Kai Parade in Marysville, which draws thousands of visitors to the small town every year.

The museum is free to the public, but you might need to make an appointment to visit on weekdays. Otherwise, the temple and museum is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends.

Found article for our Chinese-American Museums thread (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71652-Chinese-American-Museums) off an article I just posted on our new Parades thread (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71733-Parades).