MIDDLETOWN, N.Y.—The Mount Hope Chinese Association held its fourth annual Chinese New Year celebration on Feb. 28 with the Middletown High School Diversity Club at Middletown High School, where local residents and visitors watched festive performances and sampled from Asian stalls and vendors to celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse.
Chinese New Year, or the Lunar New Year, is the most important festival in many East Asian cultures. The festival usually lasts more than two weeks, and this time it ran from Feb. 17 to March 3. The holiday includes traditions such as big family gatherings, red decorations, and the Lantern Festival.
The school’s stage hosted nearly 40 performances by the community, including classical Chinese dance, various drum groups, Western classical music, Chinese folk music, dragon and lion dances, and singing. Many of the performers came from local schools, such as Northern Academy and Little Lotus Academy.
The halls of the school were filled from 11 a.m., when the event started, to 5 p.m., with 28 food vendors, more than 50 local businesses, and other stalls showcasing their products and offering entertainment.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) spoke on stage during the festival.
“I just wanted to say happy new year. It is a time of a lot of change and a lot of challenges in the world and in our country, but I feel very, very optimistic just coming from all the great food and the great fellowship,” he said.
“I’m so proud to represent this community—both Middletown High School, who’s so gracious to host this and, of course, our Falun Gong community—and to see this incredible display of the true traditional Chinese culture that represents something that I think we all can learn from and aspire to.”
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice that teaches the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. Introduced to the public in China in the early 1990s, it gained widespread popularity, reaching between 70 million and 100 million practitioners by the end of the decade, according to official estimates.
State Assemblywoman Paula Kay, for District 100, said on stage at the event: “I’ve watched this event grow over the last couple of years, and just today, pulling up into the parking lot and seeing all the cars and seeing how full this event is, it really is overwhelming.
“This is such an amazing community event.”
State Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, for District 98, which includes West Orange County; Orange County Legislator Sparrow Tobin; Orange County Legislator Janet Sutherland; and a representative for Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano all spoke in praise of the event and the community, highlighting the diversity and importance of the celebration.
“All these events that the community presents throughout the year are so awesome, especially these types of events; they’re fantastic,” Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta said.
“We try to attend as many as possible. We support the community and make sure it’s well protected during different times of the year, especially during the holidays.”
Mount Hope Chinese Association President Mela Wu told The Epoch Times on March 4: “This year is definitely a great success in terms of, I would say, the support from all around, from the organizers.”
Previously held in the town of Mount Hope, this was the first year the association’s Chinese New Year celebration was held at Middletown High School, and Wu said the school’s leadership was very supportive. She said the community response to the event was very positive and that the association plans to hold it at the school again next year.
