And one to crow on: Las Vegas festival marks the end of Chinese New Year celebration

Drummers danced, shouted and pounded their instruments as men and women shrouded in a dragon costume snaked through thousands of onlookers celebrating the end of two weeks of Chinese New Year festivities.

The Chinese New Year Celebration and Asian Food Festival, held at Chinatown Plaza, 4255 Spring Mountain Road, was packed with people Sunday. The festival, marking the Year of the Rooster, which started Jan. 28, took up half of the parking lot in front of Chinatown Plaza and celebrated its 23rd year.

Sharon Hwang, vice president of the shopping center, said the festival grows every year. This year, organizers expected more than 7,000 people to attend.

Joe Shen, the property manager at the shopping center who organized the festival, said, “This is an event that you don’t see people on their iPhone with their heads down. Instead, peoples’ heads are up and looking at the stage.”

Those people were observing jugglers, contortionists and martial artists. They were watching traditional Chinese dances, listening to music and sampling Asian grub you might not find in a drive-thru.

Oscar Cisneros, who led the dragon team to open the festivities, called performing at the event a “big, big honor.” He said he started at the back of the dragon and had to work his way to the front with about six years of martial arts school.

“We’re not just representing our school, we’re representing keeping a culture alive. We’re part of that culture,” he said.

Merchants sold toys, trinkets, plants and clothing; food vendors offered homemade Asian cuisine. Scattered among the crowd were groups of children preparing to perform martial arts onstage.

Brandon Lee was handing out fliers outside a booth advertising the Asian Community Development Council. He said he appreciated the welcoming environment the festival created for people of all backgrounds.

“It’s great how they open it up to the city so everyone can learn about Asian cultures,” he said.

A group of people in an elaborate lion costume danced door-to-door at all the plaza’s businesses, as they do every Chinese New Year. The ritual aims to bring shop owners good luck; new businesses in the plaza can request to have the lion dancers bless their store when they open.

U.S. Reps. Ruben Kihuen, and Rep. Dina Titus, both D-Nev., both visited the festival and engaged with constituents. Titus said she comes every year.

“This is the way you keep culture alive, is with events like this that feature dancing and music and talent,” she said.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.