City: Raleigh, NC

Category: Annual Events & Festivals

Description: Thousands show up at the N.C. State Fairgrounds to usher in the Chinese New Year with food, music, and displays of Chinese folk art, including drum performances, martial arts, and yo-yo. The sponsoring organization, the Triangle Area Chinese American Society, seeks to merge its festival of tradition with community customs. At a recent celebration of the year of the bull, Wool E. Bull, mascot for the minor league Durham Bulls Baseball team, was a guest of honor. Because the Chinese community in the Triangle has no geographic home, such as the Chinatowns in larger metro areas, the association’s events provide a moving cultural locus. The festival also gives Chinese food lovers a chance to taste more authentic versions of their restaurant favorites, including salt and pepper chicken, egg rolls, sticky rice, sushi, dim-sum, and North Carolina pork barbecue prepared Chinese style. Admission is $5 to $8. Children six and younger get in free. (Chinese New York fluctuates according to the lunar calendar.)