On February 24th, 2024, AYLUS Pearland worked with Pearland Chinese Association (PCA) to host the 2nd annual Lunar New Year Festival. This year’s festival happened at Pearland Recreation Center gym, where we can host as many as 2000 visitors simultaneously. Volunteers arrived as early as 7 am to label the event parking area and set up the cultural and vendor booth, the performance stage, game area and the VIP reception area upstairs inside the gym. he volunteers began decorating the auditorium, helping with setting up stage props and inflating balloons. The VIPs began coming at 9:30 am, PCA and AYLUS Pearland leaders hosted the VIP reception.
The festival began at 11 am. At the beginning, Peter and Rose Wood couple from our title sponsor Garbo Construction and Vivi Furniture rang a gong and Dawson high school choir sang the national anthem to start the celebration. During the festival, there are Chinese cultural demonstration including calligraphy, Chinese chess, Mahjong, origami, Chinese traditional cloths, balloon, and more. And many vendors came and showcased a variety of stands, including Boy Scouts, Pearland old farmers market, SMILE, AYLUS and more. We also managed a food court and invited several food trucks to provide food and drinks for the audience. AYLUS members and parents managed cotton candy, popcorn, drink and snacks, food court kitchen, calligraphy, game area, traditional costume photography, face Painting, balloon art and Chinese culture Q&A stands along with managing the information desk and tickets sale. Some volunteers dressed up in mascot costumes of a dragon, a panda and a wealth god and took pictures with children until the festival ended at 3pm. After the festival, AYLUS volunteers and parents cleaned up the site until 4 pm.
Volunteers:
9 hours: Erick Gao, Changcheng Wu
8 hours: Jonathan Niu, Matthew Niu, Ranbin Yao, Abigail Zheng, Jenna Boullion
7 hours: Aila Jiang, Anna Zheng, Tina Dong, Carson Liu, Owen Xue
6 hours: Alvin Zheng, Junxi Ding, Claire Bian, Kenrick Xia, David Liu, Aoyu Jin, Madeline Pham, Alex Song, Kevin Song, Aiden Li
5 hours: Christy Zheng, Bruce Zhang, Gabriel Chow, Aaron Chow, Eddie Fu, Jordan Zheng, Eddie Fu, Nathan Li
4 hours: Sasha Kuzmenko, Anne Wong, Zide Liu, Yanqiao Huang, Fiona Byrd, Leshang Cheng, Lekai Zhou, Shian Wang
3 hours: Emma Chen, Andy Fu, Angela Fu, Andy Shi, Grace Wu, Allison Zhang, Selena Zhang, Sarah Zhang, Dayou Wu, Haoqi Zhang, Chris Zhang, Gregory Song, Gavin Song, Bohan Hu, Cathy Gu, Ruby Cui, Michelle Gu, Grace Liu, Anita Sun, Nicole Song, Caroline Fu, Yifan Wang, Andrew Du, Emerson Li, Emerald Li, Rena Chen, Hannah Zhang, Sophie Wu, Iris Wu, Bella Mao, Jerry Mao, Alice Zhang, Claire Liu, Mia Gao, Erica Gao, Zoey Dou, Ken Yao, Alex Walter, Emma A Lu, Roy Zheng, Allen Gu, Rexford Pan, Ethan Y. Chen, Haobo Shi, Boyu Wu, Yu Wang, Andrew Lu, Kevin Zhao, Roger Cui, Grace Wang
2 hours: Steven Xu
1.5 hour: William Sun, Alexander Sun, Yushan Qiu, Yurong Qiu
1 hour: Edwin Gao
Parent Participation: Carol L. (Aila), Jiangong N. (Jonathan/Matthew), Jun L. (Derek), Li L. (Alex/William), Erica J. (Alvin/Christy), James J. (Aila), Ping N. (Emma), Amber C. (Anna) Mia L.(Zide), Kun L. (Grace/Dayou), Lina Q. (Grace/Claire), Fang F. (Tina), Xingzhi S. (Nicole), Yonggang Z. (Haoqi/Chris), Yali R. (Ranbin), Xiaoou Z. (Emmerson/Emerald),, Tina S. (Sarah), Kai Z. (Hannah/Rena), Ying W. (Steven), Rui (Sasha), Meiling W. (Alex), Jiao W. (Shian), Patrick Z. (Allison), Shuguang (Claire), Arthur W. (Changcheng), Tingting G. (Cathy G.), Bo W. (Kenrick), Li M. (Rexford), Hong H. (Bohan), Susu (Ken), Xiuyun G.(Nathan) , Xiang H.(Greg/Gavin), Yong C. (Roger/Ruby), Celeste S. (Mia), Linli G. (Iris), Lily (Junxi), Huiling W. (Anita)
