Better Chinatown USA hosts Lantern Festival on Eighth Avenue

March 1, 2016 Meaghan McGoldrick

BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photos by SB News

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Lunar New Year was marked once again this month – this time by Better Chinatown USA – with a family-friendly Lantern Festival, hosted by the volunteer-based organization on Sunday, February 28 in Sunset Park.

The event – which included cultural performances, martial arts, lion dancing, arts and crafts and more – took place from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and spanned Eighth Avenue from 53^rd to 55^th Street.

It was co-sponsored by the Brooklyn Improvement Association and Assemblymember Peter Abbate’s office.

Steven Tin, Better Chinatown’s executive director, deemed the afternoon a success.

“We are very happy about the festival turnout,” said Tin, stressing that the purpose of the festival is to promote Chinese-American culture and ultimately make it more mainstream, especially for second and third generation Chinese-American families in the neighborhood. “The event successfully attracted many diverse promotional and cultural booths, and multicultural performances, and families from across Brooklyn and other New York City areas.”

All in all, Tin said, he hopes the Lantern Festival inspires change for the future.

“Hopefully it [will give] the Sunset Park and Eighth Avenue community a more cultural and family identity in the future, instead of just being [known as] a busy commercial district,” he said.