Lunar New Year Parade Brings Colorful Costumes and Dragon Dancers to Squirrel Hill

March 2, 2020/Rick Handler

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Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill Neighborhood has a large Asian population and a myriad of Asian restaurants. This fact is celebrated every Lunar New Year with a parade along Murray Avenue. People of all nationalities line the streets to see dancing dragons, marchers in the traditional dress and costumes of their Asian cultures, fire dancers, bands, and more. This years parade was rescheduled from February and took place on Sunday, March 1st. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2020 is the year of the rat.

Dancing dragons are highlights of many Chinese New Year celebrations.
Watching the pre-parade dragon dance were dignitaries (l. to r.): State Senator and Minority Leader Jay Costa, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, State Representative Dan Frankel, and Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman. Grand Marshal for the parade was Highmark V.P. Kannu Sahni (wearing sunglasses to the left of Do Not Enter sign).
This dragon had good vertical extension.
Drummers in the back of a pickup kept the beat for the dragon dancers during the parade.
These young ladies from the Organization of Chinese Americans await their cue to line up for the parade.
People gather along Murray Avenue to view the parade.
No wonder this woman is smiling. She gets to march in the parade in beautiful clothing, with a pretty parasol, dazzling jewelry, and flowers in her hair.
Hey, it's not a real dragon, there's someone in there.
Two very talented dragon dancers.
Two fire dancers showcased their talents in the parade.
Another beautifully dressed marcher.
A dragon dancing team entertains the crowd.
This young high-stepper from Minadeo Elementary School keeps the team's art work moving forward.
Marching in the parade with his fighting stick is a pupil from Win-Win Kung Fu Cultural Center.
Thank you Chinese restaurants in Pittsburgh for all the delicious food!
The Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh marched with the Philippine and U.S. flags.
This Filipina dancer beamed a big smile for all.
When going upstream in a parade, keep paddling. Seen here are members of Pittsburgh Paddlefish Dragon Boat Team.
Chief of Police Scott Schubert had a busy weekend, from the Pittsburgh Polar Plunge fundraiser to the Lunar New Year Parade.
Providing excellent music to march by is the Taylor Allderdice High School Marching Band. Fittingly, Taylor Allderdice's mascot is a dragon.