Reported by: Jeffrey Chen
AYLUS Syosset branch continued to volunteer at the Nassau County Lunar New Year
Festival at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in the afternoon, from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm.
The afternoon volunteers helped hand out Chinese ornaments and dyed fans, dressed up and
took pictures with attendees, assisted with check-in registration, decorated walls with Chinese
decorations and helped out with handing out Chinese snacks.
Check-In Registration
After entering the festival area through the main entrance and going down the stairs, to
the right, was a station where attendees checked in and afternoon volunteers arrived to fill in for
the morning volunteers.
Handing Out Chinese Ornaments And Dyed Fans
At the same station for registration, there were also people who handed out brochures,
chinese lanterns, and small tiger plushies. In addition, some volunteers at another station dyed
paddle-shaped fans (decorated with chinese couplets) by dropping colored dye into a bucket of
water, then dipping into it.
Decorating Walls With Chinese Decorations
The end of the hallway in which attendees entered was a separated room where a
business was still setting up the room with decorations. The walls were covered with chun lian,
traditional spring festival couplets, red paper with gold designs and words written with black ink.
Additionally, one of the walls had balloons and Chinese lanterns added for people to take
pictures.
Helped Hand Out Chinese Snacks
The same room mentioned in the above section was specifically for handing out snacks,
specifically phoenix egg rolls and regular egg rolls, not to be confused with spring rolls which is
a common misconception. These snacks are airy, flaky, and savory.
Dressed Up As Animals To Take Pictures with Attendees
Volunteers also dressed up as animals, namely a duck, bear, and a panda. The duck
and bear were in the smaller separated room where people could take pictures with them in
front of the more decorated wall. The panda was near the entrance taking pictures with people,
which had many kids surrounding it since the exterior of the costume was really fluffy.
This Chinese Lunar New Year Festival was successful in spreading awareness of
Chinese culture and traditions, forming a stronger sense of community bond and unity within
Nassau County.
Volunteers (3 hours): Jeffrey Chen, Lucas Fu, Riley Lin, Ryan Lin, Kingston Lu, Elva Chen,
Katie Wang, Bryan Wan, Jason Zeng
