Competing Cities to Stage Own Parades

The San Gabriel Valley’s Chinese New Year festivities will begin Saturday, with the first of two official celebrations organized separately by squabbling leaders in neighboring cities.

Monterey Park’s Downtown Merchants Assn. and the Chamber of Commerce will celebrate the Year of the Rooster with events on Saturday and Sunday, while Alhambra’s Chamber of Commerce--along with the City of San Gabriel and other local groups--will sponsor a Chinese New Year Parade and Street Festival on Jan. 30.

Last year, city officials and business leaders in Alhambra and Monterey Park co-sponsored the Valley’s first official Chinese New Year parade, which was touted as a unified community response to the dramatic ethnic shift in the region. About 35,000 people attended, organizers said, but police put the crowd at 5,000.

This year, after breaking off discussions with Monterey Park, Alhambra formed a partnership with San Gabriel. Meanwhile, Monterey Park decided to put on its own celebration.

The feuding began when some Monterey Park City Council members and Chamber of Commerce officials objected to the potential use of cigarette, liquor and gambling firms as parade sponsors. Others complained that merchants had lost business during last year’s parade, which started in Monterey Park and ended in Alhambra.

“If you were a merchant in Monterey Park, you wouldn’t be very happy--you’d have people trashing things and then taking off and going to another city,” said Margaret To, president of the city’s Downtown Merchants Assn.

The two separate events are not competing, said Paul Talbot, executive director of the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce.

Monterey Park’s celebration runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a traditional Flower Market and arts and crafts booths in the parking lot of T. S. Emporium and Garvey Home Center, 122 W. Garvey Ave.

At 10 a.m. Sunday, a 150-foot-long Chinese dragon--propelled by 50 pairs of human legs--will lead a parade near Garvey and Garfield avenues. Also, two Lion Dance teams will parade through downtown Monterey Park. Organizers expect up to 20,000 people.

Alhambra’s all-day event begins 10 a.m. Jan. 30 with a parade that starts at Valley Boulevard and Del Mar Avenue, goes west along Valley, and ends at Garfield Avenue with a fireworks display.

The parade will be broadcast live on North American Television Corp., a national Chinese cable TV station.

A festival with more than 200 food, crafts and business booths will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Valley Boulevard between Garfield and Atlantic. Organizers expect 60,000 to 70,000 people.