The best things to do for Lunar New Year (a.k.a. Chinese New Year)

Chinatown’s annual Lunar (Chinese) New Year Parade is back on March 1, 2026, with dragon dancing, stunning outfits, martial art performers and more. After you've danced among the firecrackers, make sure to check out other fun things to do in the area such as the best karaoke in Chinatown or delicious Chinese restaurants. 

Head to Chinatown for the Lunar New Year Parade, which heads down Mott Street to Chatham Square to East Broadway toward the Manhattan Bridge, completing on Forsyth Street near Grand Street and Sara D. Roosevelt Park. For more information, visit betterchinatown.com.

On Sunday, March 1, Pearl River Mart and Chelsea Market will host their Annual Lunar New Year Extravaganza, welcoming the Year of the Horse with a free, full-day celebration inside the renowned food hall. 

Now in its ninth year, the event will kick off with ribbon dancing from the New York Chinese Cultural Center on the main concourse in front of Pearl River Mart, followed by lion dancing from the Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar lion and dragon dance team. The spirited afternoon will be filled with mahjong lessons, red envelope and chopstick activities with Sylvia Chen (author of Sparkles for Sunny and Tricky Chopsticks), personalized calendar readings from Chinese metaphysics practitioner Julie Huang (creator of the Glow Up Golden calendar), and more.

Food and beverage offerings from popular Pearl River Mart Foods vendors like Mao's Bao, Kimbap Lab, Tea & Milk, and Maxi's Noodle will be available for purchase.

A collaboration between Abrons Arts Center and Wing on Wo’s The W.O.W. Project, "From Chinatown, with Love" honors and supports Chinatown businesses at the start of each Lunar New Year. Along with incentives to explore the neighborhood retailers (such as Jade Crystal Craft, Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, Bok Lei Po Trading and more), this year's collab includes the new exhibition Storefronts as Sites of Cultural Resistance. Running through March 22, the exhibit was designed by Midnight Project and features the Letterform Archive, Cynthia Yuan Cheng & Sophie Wang, Mischelle Moy and Singha Hon, chronicling "interdependence and community support from Chinatown New York to Chinatown San Francisco."