San Diego Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Fair

We took the kids to this in an attempt to teach them about culture, unfortuantly there wasn’t a whole lot to teach. It was mainly a few pogadas to look at and a food area. The rest of it was community booths and rides (which my kids loved). I think the next time we attend one of these, it will be in San Francisco. Much bigger and better and culturally packed. Happy year of the Goat!

I was definitely looking to see more here, this event seriously needs to grow in size. I will give it 3 stars because everyone was trying so hard. The food choices were limited, but what we tried was good. The dancing displays were nice also.

I just happened to walk by on my way to work. It was pretty busy out. Happy Crowd. There were a Lot of booths that had nothing to do with their culture, but I’ll round up! Gotta give it up tho for Representing their New Year.

Not SF, NY, LOND or HK but nonetheless, a nice little affair in SD to celebrate the Year of the Ram. The # of Chinese food stalls were a bit on the sparce side, but enough to get a taste of the orient. The stage performers were ok, nothing special but God bless them for their superb efforts. The young kids were little aces. The stars of the show: The Lion Dance crew — superb. A must see. All in all, ‘something nice to do on a lazy Saturday.
KUNG HEI FAT CHOY :)))))

On the good side, there were some interesting and tasty food items.
On the bad side, it was no fun being aggressively ‘hawked’ by timeshare salespeople who repeatedly approached you while walking past the booths to try to solicit your name and contact information. Also, booths displaying home appliance services (bathtub display?) were out of the festival theme and distracted from the cultural experience. And, yes, it would be best to drop the cumbersome 2-​step tokens method of purchasing anything there.

My first time going to this festival and I didn’t have much high expectations since I feel like there’s not really a large Chinese population in San Diego.
My first time seeing a Dragon dance here and I must say those dragons were friendly. They went up to me and my brother a couple times and my brother enjoyed it very much!
The program and shows were really interesting and the lady who’s hosting it was very informative about Chinese culture.
If you have children, they have a crafts booth where you can get face paints and make free lanterns.
The food — there were not many Chinese foods, probably the most Chinese one was the DimSum booth and the food there was pretty good!
It was not crowded at all which was a plus for me since I hate having to squeeze my way into crowds.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience but I’m not quite sure if I’ll go back next year!
Definitely try and go at least once and experience it!

Last year I told myself that will be the last time I visit this festival, but I gave it another try for the Year of the Horse. Disappointed to say the least. Food stands and even other stands that have nothing to do with Chinese culture, like promoting some casinos or Catalina island or similar. There is so much frying going on that you will need to wash your hair immediately or the stink will impregnate your pores. The colorful dragon next to the Chinese museum is the same as the previous years. I saw tome tai-​chi or similar exhibition but was too crowded and was not really pleasant to be there. I still think they do a good job trying to preserve the Chinese culture in San Diego and our little Chinatown on J street.

it’s a much smaller festival than say in toronto or san francisco but i’m all for anyone supporting their cultural heritage and passing it onto the future generations. for that point i would give it 4 stars!
parking is a bit hairy so i did the $ 15 lot nearby.
if you’ve ever lost your hearing at a concert, you obviously have not attended the festival here. the gong will set your ears ringing for a bit.
came on the last day and enjoyed the dragon dance, the korean drummers and the chinese dancers. the emcee was a cute older lady with lots of funny jokes. barona casino was a sponsor and gave away $ 100 gift certificates to the audience members who answered the cultural trivia questions. the finale were these cute little kids doing a tibetan dance and song.
the stands themselves were the usual knick knacks and some that weren’t quite asian like the wyndam resort. not sure if i liked buying tokens for food. you have to plan out what you want to buy then buy the right amount of tokens. hence the star ding.
only 2 stands took cash which was easier. i got to sample some tasty dim sum including pork buns, banana wrapped rice with pork, and some sweets. sadly, i didn’t get to catch the tet festival in mira mesa. i’m not sure why they don’t just combine it all for one lunar new year extravaganza. asians and asian enthusiasts unite!

I expecting this place to be bigger, but it was kind of small and super packed. The lines for food was ridiculous and you have to buy tokens before you get in that line. It was still fun but wouldn’t stay for more than 3 hrs since there’s not that much to do except watch the entertainment. Maybe next year will be better.

1/28…hi there my name is Jamie I came here this year it was fun I had a chance tolook around and see alot of different stuff. I came threw with alot of different ideas it was great the food was good I guess I really didnt have a chance to see antthing that was major only thing was the sales they had and the culture event the culture event I thought it was alot of fun:-) people were just laughing and having such a good time. I would wanna come back for the year 2013habe. A great summer I wish I it be longer… jamie

Spoiled on San Francisco Chinese New Year festivals, this probably shouldn’t be reviewed, but I’ll give it a shot…
Start off with the good – excellent acrobatics presentation by a young woman who works full time as a nurse practioner in San Diego. If this is just a hobby for her, she must do her real job really well. No employer could ever accuse her of not being focused or capable of multi-​tasking.
The lion and dragon parade was short and delightful, although I don’t remember getting a plea to feed the dragons red envelopes of money in San Francisco. Maybe I missed that day in class. Cute presentation with the kids and their lantern ceremony.
The fair was neat and compact, and I realize the weather is probably unseasonably warm right now. (But how would I know?) I would suggest more tents so that folks would have shade (if there’ssun) or shelter from rain (since the announcer said it was raining last year). The fair was small but there was lots of space to set up shelters.

On the way, I heard a scrub (
) holla «I know Kung Fu!» A good reason to have this event. Glad I took a break from my Leather Search (Location B) and I came here to enjoy the festivities.
Discovery: Would be good to bring a friend to enjoy it together.
This fair was small but I’m definitely going to give it more chances and continue to come back.
Vendor-​wise there wasn’t a lot and food-​wise, there were only a handful of them. They were moderately priced. I hope more vendors join next year. At least the food that were there looked good and if you check the website, you’ll know what to expect before coming. There is a detail list of vendors and sponsors.
Would love for it to be bigger and I’m sure and hopeful it’ll continue to grow. But it’s not about size, it’s about SPIRIT.
YAY for the Unilocal booth!
I stopped by the Unilocal booth and got a Unilocal key chain/​bottle opener.
Sadly, I came a little late in the afternoon and missed a lot of the entertainment like dragon dancing and lantern parade.
Parking recommendation: Horton if you can be done in 2 hours.