Crowd welcomed the Year of the Dragon with food and dance at Lenexa Public Market
Crowds rang in the Year of the Dragon at the Lenexa Public Market Feb. 11 with sweet treats, various dance performances and even a few dragon-themed board games.
It’s the second year the market has held a Lunar New Year event. Johnny Chen, owner of Mr. D’s Coffee, got it all started last year.
“Usually in China or most of the Asian countries, people take the week off just to celebrate this new year,” said Chen, who is from Taiwan. “I figured, let’s try to embrace our heritage and see if we can get all these different businesses to participate.”
Collaborating with both the market and the Ethnic Enrichment Commission, Chen helped put together a varied celebration. His restaurant served themed food such as dragon doughnuts and fortune cookie lattes.
Other food vendors at the market also joined in with special menus, including Kimchi and Bap offering gimbap, a Korean rice roll, and the Cardboard Corner Cafe serving up brown sugar boba, cherry blossom and matcha waffle pops.
“The events that we choose to do are leaning in (to) support our merchants and the diversity we have to highlight here at the Public Market,” said Tessa Adcock, manager of the Lenexa venue.
In addition to the food, the dance performances helped draw crowds.
Japanese dance group Tatsumaki Yosakoi has two groups: one in Manhattan, Kansas, and the other in the KC metro. Both joined together for an energetic performance in the open-air courtyard next to the food area at the market.
“I just love how high energy it is. It gets me moving. It lets me be part of the community,” said dancer Karen Watson of Manhattan.
After a performance, the group led a short workshop in the market’s art gallery space, letting its audience join in on the fun.
“I learned this is a great workout. It was very intimidating (to try) but very fun,” said Elizabeth Schmidt of Overland Park.
The HK Chinese Folk Dance group also performed several dances.
Perhaps the most well-known dance to the crowd came from KC Lion Dance. Three fuzzy Chinese lions, each containing two performers, leaped and swayed to a loud drum beat in the outdoor courtyard.
The traditional dance “pushes out bad luck,” said Kha Tran, who is part of the group.
At a certain point, onlookers are supposed to feed the lions money “in hope the lion brings them luck and fortune for the year,” Tran said.
After performing outside, the lions proceeded to dance through the entire indoor market, too.
In the upstairs portion of the market, attendees could make cut-out paper crafts and try writing “Happy New Year” in Chinese characters. The un-crafty could find entertainment in a variety of board games, themed to go with the Year of the Dragon.