2/7/14 - A new festival spotlighting Asian culture is set to take over Howell tomorrow. The first Howell Lunar New Year Festival started earlier this week with an educational event at the Howell Carnegie District Library, but will kick into full gear on Saturday. The Lunar New Year is celebrated in most Asian cultures, and falls sometime in late January and early February. It varies from year to year because itâs based on the Chinese lunar calendar. The Howell Downtown Development Authority is organizing the events, which will include a Dragon Run 5k and 1-mile walk/run at 10am tomorrow, followed by a blessing of the downtown businesses at noon in the Cobb Hall courtyard, with a Lion Dance performance at 1pm in the Opera House. The rest of the dayâs activities will take place there, including a martial arts demonstration and Mah Jong lessons. The evening will wrap up at 7pm with a free performance by the Michigan State Universityâs Silk Road Chinese Orchestra at the Howell Opera House. A full listing and schedule of events can be found through the link below. Officials say the goal behind creating the event was to bring a flavor of that to Howell as part of a cultural awareness and education process, especially since the community is seeing more trade, cultural and business presence from some major Asian countries like China, Thailand and Taiwan. (JK)
↧