A fundamental change that we're introducing to the festival in 2026 is to treat Lunar New Year Tết & Parade as a collection of events that happen to be running at the same time in the same area. This means every event could be a standalone spin-off event, and indeed, we want to grow each event to the point where it can stand on its own. From this philosophy, this is why you will see the festival organized with the following attractions:
Multiple parades, and even sub-parades:
Lunar New Year × Mardi Gras Parade and Second Line Parade — The Mardi Gras and Second Line Parades are already their own parades, but we're leveraging their proximity to create a fun mashup of cultures!
Áo Dài Parade — Led by the Miss & Miss Teen Vietnam Northern California Pageant, this sub-parade will be held on Saturday as part of the Lunar New Year × Mardi Gras Parade, and is a good example of how to incubate brands within larger brands. In theory, this could spin off into its own event or series of participations at other parades.
Multiple concerts or bands in the format of a music festival:
Lucky Wav Edition — An exciting show fusing Vietnamese/Asian tradition with modernity, organized by an entertainment professional! This could be a standalone concert during the summer, for example.
New Orleans music bands — We can't have Mardi Gras without New Orleans music!
Valentine's Day Concert — We're just taking advantage of the fact that our festival falls on this day!
Karaoke in the Park — This has never been done before, but this could be a recurring event throughout the year!
Youth Culture Day — A showcase of student talent from local schools, which somewhat already exist in the form of multicultural festivals, but the long-term vision here is to use this format mixed with community-building activities such as mixers and cultural mashup workshops.
Mrs. Vietnam NorCal Sacramento Pageant — Most pageants are standalone events already, but the director told us, "We want to be with your festival." There is something magical with a large festival where everyone's efforts synergizes off of each other.
Great Tug-of-War Games — This is our first year hosting tug-a-war games, drawing from Vietnamese traditions, and organized by the Westmarch Kingdom of Amtgard group. Sports has a way of uniquely engaging the community, and this could be its own standalone event on par with the Olympics if we ever want to scale it.
Asian Cajun Village — This idea can spin-off an entire food festival and along with it, a massive Asian Cajun seafood boil event.
Lunar New Year Carnival — Carnivals can be their own event/attraction, but they often do better when paired with a main attraction.
Want to organize your event within the Lunar New Year Tết Festival?
Email us at LunarNewYear@cPALSs.com with your proposal!