There was a lot of traffic in front of the
Exposition Center that morning.
People waited at the front door even before the box office
opened for business. Volunteers
wore traditional Chinese costumes, mostly in red or gold colors,
very much in tune with this festival atmosphere.
People were saying ¡°Gong Xi Fa Cai¡± or ¡°Happy New
Year¡± to one another everywhere. The hallways were decorated with firecrackers and red
lanterns. In the center
of the Hall, there was a bowl filled with big red balloons sitting
on top of the round table with shinny gold table cloth.
A big yellow rat and three smaller rats were hung against the
black backdrop in the main stage.
This setup made a very striking impression on the audience.
Not only there were more food vendors, but more
varieties this year. In
addition to various traditional Chinese cuisines, there were Greek
and Danish cuisines too. The
main stage was packed with performance such as singing, dancing,
Chinese instrument playing, Chinese Opera, .etc...
This year, TACAS made a special invitation to a Korean and an
India group to come celebrating Chinese New Year.
These two groups dazzled the audience with their wonderful
performance.
TACAS also designed numerous games for kids of
all ages. The hall was
filled with their laughter. While adults enjoyed the performance on
stage, or wandered through food or merchandise booths, or gathered
information from some vendors, kids were lined up and waited for
their turn to drive a litter car or take a picture with the magician
and the parrot or to play their favorite games without feeling
bored.
¡°Chinese American Idol¡± Show was a new
program this year. It
followed the format of the popular ¡°American Idol¡± show on TV.
TACAS recruited 5 judges for this show.
Those who were interested in auditioning for this show would
perform first at the small stage at the corner.
The 5 judges would base on the performers¡¯ skill level,
creativity, and other criteria, selected 6 finalists who would get a
chance to perform at the main stage.
There was no shortage of the participants.
Besides singing, dancing, there were Indian drum playing,
guitar and violin playing, brick dance, and so on.
The variety and the quality of the performance were amazing.
The 13 year old Amber Wang¡¯s outstanding violin performance
won her the top prize. In
addition to the new ¡°Chinese American Idol¡± show, there is
another new program this year ¡°Chinese New Year Essay and Drawing
Contest¡±. Over one
hundred students sent in their creations, which were posted in the
hall for the proud parents to review.
Close to the entrance, people gathered in front of a booth
where members of the Book Club were busy demonstrating calligraphy
by translating English names to Chinese, and wrote them down in
traditional brush pens.
Although the celebration lasted only 7 hours,
the planning committee began to work on this event several months
ago. TACAS mobilized more than 500 volunteers and performers.
They recruited people to take on responsibility of box office
management, publicity and media, vendor/sponsor relations, stage
management, sound and light, decorations, volunteer coordination,
food distribution, traffic control, and many other tasks. An event of this magnitude takes tremendous resources and
manpower, not to mention the coordination and the planning. Cyndy Yu Robinson, President of TACAS, and Theresa Boudreaux,
Director of Arts Center, often worked till 2 or 3 o¡¯clock in the
morning. Without the
dedication of all the volunteers and performers, this event won¡¯t
be able to take place. They
deserve our utmost appreciation.
Event organizer: Cyndy Yu-Robinson
Artistic Director: Theresa Boudreaux
