Spokane's Lunar New Year - Fireworks, Dances, and More!

Spokane’s Lunar New Year Business Expo returns to Spokane, February 24, 2024! This wonderful Lunar New Year festival is brought to everyone by Spokane’s United We Stand, a local organization founded in 2020. Spokane’s very first Lunar New Year Celebration was in 1888, only 15 years after Spokane was founded! Back then, the little settlement was known as Spokan Falls. It ran continuously all the way to 1933. Sadly, the festival languished and eventually was extinguished due to a terrible combination of the The Great Depression and strict immigration practices. 2022 saw the return of Spokane’s Lunar New Year Celebration after an 89 year hiatus! 

The Expo is a fantastic way to experience, enjoy, and learn about all kinds of different cultures and is 100% free for all ages! There will be Lion Dancers, Dragon Dancers, fireworks, and a Third Prince done with authentic costumes provided by the Taiwanese Embassy. The New Year is a time of hope, prosperity, and generosity for many Asian cultures. Over $20,000 in gift cards to local businesses will be given out in 5,000 red envelopes at the Celebration.

In the spirit of celebrating and respecting Spokane's Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AAHPI) communities, Cutoff Crafts will also be handing out Red Envelopes (hong bao/lai-see) to the first 100 customers who spend $20 or more on our wonderful merchandise. Each Red Envelope wishes the person luck for the new year and includes a real coin from many countries including: China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and more!

The very first hong bao, it is said, was eight coins that were gifted to a child while the evil monster Sui was terrorizing the land. The child played with the coins all day, wrapping them and rewrapping them in lucky red paper. Finally the child fell asleep. When Sui crept in during the night to try and harm the child, the coins shone so brightly that they drove Sui away.

Ever since, money wrapped in red envelopes has been seen as lucky to a wide range of Asian and Pacific cultures. 

2024 marks the return in the Eastern Zodiac to the Year of The Dragon. Cutoff Crafts has prepared $5 and $15 goodie bags stuffed full of loot. The $5 goodie bags contain candy, stickers, a popit, glow in the dark stars, a polished stone, and a small animal figurine.The $15 mystery bags contain a metal enamel dragon pin, stickers, and some even have gift certificates for Cutoff Crafts!

We will also have a variety of dragon themed merch including micro building block kits!

The Spokane Lunar New Year Celebration promises to be full of family fun. The first 500 attendees will receive swag bags. There will be a petting zoo, 100+ vendors, a Cultural Fashion Show, photo op spots, traditional dances and more. It is entirely free. The doors open at 1:00 p.m. and the fireworks start at 7:00 p.m.

Swing by the Spokane Convention Center today, February 24th, 2024, and join in the fun!