The community celebrated Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dragon with an afternoon of fun festivities at the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens on Saturday 10 February.
Featuring music and dance, delicious food, engaging activities and energetic performances, Lunar New Year celebrations were enjoyed by a wide cross-section of the community, attracting out of region visitors as well.
Promise Rampa came from Hervey Bay with her family to take part in the celebrations while staying the region for the weekend.
“We saw this event on Facebook on Tuesday, we literally just booked a camping site and we said ‘we are going’, and it’s been so good,” Promise said.
“It’s such a great cultural experience.”
To keep the crowd entertained all afternoon, the stage program featured performances from a range of cultural groups, including special performances by students from Bundaberg’s Sister City in China, Nanning.
Nanning Fengxiang Road Primary School Deputy Headteacher Lao Yingming said they were grateful for the warm welcome from the Bundaberg community.
“The event was seamlessly organised, and I thank everyone who made our students feel truly valued,” she said.
PCYC Blazers Chinese Dragon and Lion dancers brought the Year of the Dragon to life with a ceremonial painting of the dragon’s eyes and engaging performances that delighted the audience.
As part of the stage program, Bangon Hongsin performed a Thai blessing dance aimed to bring good luck and happiness for everyone and she said she enjoyed performing for the Bundaberg audience.
“I can feel they really liked my show,” Bangon said.
Returning food vendor Nerissa Fish from Everything Filipino Foods said the event had a great atmosphere and provided a lot of good for the community.
“This is an awesome event that everybody should appreciate,” Nerissa said.
Among the activities and food vendors, community groups participated to provide demonstrations in tai chi and mahjong, along with a special pop-up train stop for the Australian Sugar Cane Railway.
Bundaberg Dragon Boat Club displayed one of the distinctive dragon heads that feature on the club’s boats, in keeping with the Year of the Dragon theme of the celebrations.
Representing the club and talking to prospective new members, Lesley Grimminck said dragon boating was the fastest growing water sport in the world.
“We’re looking for new enrolments into dragon boating, it’s an exciting sport,” Lesley said.
“We had a lot of interest, and the afternoon’s been very entertaining.”
