2 Cities to Organize Chinese New Year Parade

City officials and business leaders in Alhambra and Monterey Park will stage a Chinese New Year parade and arts festival on Feb. 8.

Organizers say they don’t intend to compete with the long-established parade in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, which will take place one week later than the first-ever San Gabriel Valley event. Instead, the Alhambra-Monterey Park event will be aimed at local people who rarely go to Chinatown, they said.

Officials in the two cities have agreed to block off a 1.5-mile stretch of Garfield Avenue and a portion of Valley Boulevard for the event. Organizers have raised about half the $50,000 needed, said Alhambra Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Frykenberg.