Happy New Year! Yes, again. On Saturday, you can celebrate during the Chinese New Year Festival at the State Fairgrounds.
In truth, it's an early celebration - on Western calendars this New Year lands Feb. 14 - of the year 4708 and the year of the tiger.
Presented by the Triangle Area Chinese American Society, the event will feature a huge main stage with continuous entertainment, including dragon dances, Taiwanese pop songs, a sequence of a Peking Opera and a fashion show. A second smaller stage will have a puppet show, Chinese yoyo displays and an "American Idol-esque" talent competition.
"Last year, we had two kids who blended kung-fu and hip-hop," says Cyndy Yu-Robinson, a TACAS past president and acting public relations person.
Forty exhibitors and vendors will sell crafts, souvenirs and, naturally, food. The fare will range from what you might find in a typical Chinese restaurant to "some pretty authentic" food, Yu-Robinson says, such as "the homemade stuff you might get at a restaurant on the chalk-written menu."
Among the treats: a noodle dish with a thick bacon, slow roasted and served with a kind of yeast roll. "It's a traditional slow food," Yu-Robinson says. There are vegetarian dishes, too, she says. Mock duck and mock chicken will be present.
Yu-Robinson says it's best to arrive early, between 10 and 11, to walk around a bit, check out the exhibits and scope out which souvenirs you might want. Then check out the menus. She says in the afternoon, the festival gets loud and crowded. The good news is that you can see the stage from anywhere.
There will be a children's area with Chinese calligraphy and face painting. Three stations offer a chance to make tiger puppets, beaded necklaces, bracelets and bookmarks (to benefit Half the Sky Foundation, an organization for children waiting to be adopted). Children also can practice rubber-stamping with Chinese characters and images.
If you get tired, you can sit at tables and eat. There will be tables near the stage so you can take in the whole thing like a concert experience.
And it might give you a chance to restart those resolutions.
