Fountain Valley celebrates, educates with Lunar New Year Festival
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Fountain Valley had the help of many during its annual Lunar New Year Festival on Saturday, the collective coming together to put on a cultural celebration that also served to educate.
Hundreds of people, especially families with young children, showed up to immerse themselves in the activities provided at the Fountain Valley Recreation Center.
Throughout the facility, families and festival-goers had opportunities to learn in a participatory manner.
This was quite intentional, said Huong Dao, a leading organizer of the city’s celebration. Dao, who retired from teaching at Tamura Elementary in 2022, had previously endeavored to introduce her students to similar experiences that would heighten their social awareness.
She found that when she attempted to plan for students to write about a topic, they would often not have the same experiences. Putting on a festival was a way to give them something they shared.
“It’s hard for the teacher to have something to teach the kids, about using the five senses, to describe something,” Dao said. “Lunar New Year Festival is one of the events. I normally used that to teach my students narrative, so they will write, and I will teach them how to write a beginning, how to write a thoughtful ending, how to use the five senses to get their writing more descriptive.”
Christie Araiza, the city’s recreation manager, had been a parent who had witnessed Dao’s methods. That relationship led to collaboration on the present-day festival, which has continued to grow to include aspects of Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean culture.
While teaching, the activities were based on standards set by the state, Dao said, helping to develop critical thinking and cultural awareness. It provided elements of social studies, as well as math through games of chance that taught probability.
“We don’t want it to be just watching the lion dance, or doing the dance only,” Dao said. “We want to incorporate into — what we called it back then was … guided language acquisition design. It’s a program for [English language development] students that we get the kids to learn by doing things. We developed [the Lunar New Year program] based on that.”
The stations on Saturday offered arts and crafts, games and food samples. On a patio area, attendees could learn about different kinds of dancing, featuring a fan or a traditional conical straw hat called a nón lá.
Volunteers from local high schools and community groups helped run the stations. Khoi Le, 18, of Bach Dang Giang Troop 1004 of the Boy Scouts of America, was interacting with visitors to the hat dancing booth.
“It’s actually really fun to watch,” Le said of the response from the young children to himself and the hats. “They’re engaging with the physicality of it, and I think that’s like the first step. We don’t want to narrate to them all of the history right now, but we like to see that there’s some curiosity. They’re aware of the objects that we have brought over, the traditions here, and stuff like that. They’re interacting with how to wear it, what fun it can have.”
The fun continued inside, with various types of games, including offerings for Chinese and Vietnamese chess, as well as a challenge that tasked the participant with picking up marbles with chopsticks.
Coloring sheets also helped young children explore their creativity while ringing in 2026, which is the Year of the Horse.
Live musical performances were also provided by local high school students and seniors.
Public officials appearing at the event included Rep. Derek Tran (D-Cypress), state Assemblyman Tri Ta (R-Westminster), a representative for state Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach) and members of the Fountain Valley City Council.
Tran delivered remarks ahead of the traditional lion dance, saying it was a time to “renew our commitment” to family, friends and community.
“So much of who we are as Vietnamese Americans is rooted in new beginnings,” Tran said. “Our families fled Communist violence and oppression, leaving everything to build a life that was truly free. Growing up, I remember my parents working around the clock at their convenience store, driven by the hope to achieve the American dream. And in just a few short decades, we have built communities that are unparalleled in strength, resilience and commitment to preserving our history.”
