Local News in Brief : Countywide : 35,000 Expected for Tet Festivities at Park
More than 35,000 people are expected to ring in Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, this weekend at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana.
Vietnamese food, folk dances, songs and other activities will be featured at the festival, sponsored by the Union of Vietnamese Student Assns. of Southern California and the city of Santa Ana.
The celebration, ushering in the Year of the Snake, will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Festival coordinator Tung Le said the event also celebrates Orange County’s 100th birthday and the 200-year recognition of the battle against Chinese invaders by Vietnamese King Quang Trung in 1789.
Trung’s victory, also during the Tet period, caused an end to the invasion of the Manchu dynasty into Vietnam.
The new year, which succeeds the Year of the Dragon, begins Feb. 6. Celebrations will take place throughout the county until Feb. 19. The largest festival will be held next week in Orange County’s Little Saigon, where more than 250,000 visitors are expected.
UC Irvine Vietnamese students will also sponsor a Tet Festival on campus in the Bren Events Center at noon on Feb. 19.
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