The San Francisco SPCA and the Chinese New Year Parade have been around for about the same length of time, nearly 140 years. However, 2006, or 4704 according to the Chinese lunar calendar, is the first time that we’ve come together to celebrate this auspicious occasion. And this is no ordinary year! 2006 is the Year of the Dog and there won’t be another one until 2018, so it’s important for the SF/SPCA to represent the thousands of homeless dogs (and cats) we care for every year.
The San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade is one of the largest in the world. Thousands of people line the city’s streets to enjoy the spectacle, and millions of others watch it on television. On a mild February evening, with the First Moon, or Plum Blossom Moon, floating in the sky like a luminous pearl, a contingent of SF/SPCA staff and volunteers stepped off from the staging area on lower Market Street, and led the Society’s historic horse ambulance along the parade route. The ambulance was decorated with red-for-luck Chinese lanterns for the occasion, and the marchers were all wearing red T-shirts emblazoned with the Chinese symbol for Year of the Dog.
Accompanied by a cacophony of fireworks, drums, singing and barking (no dogs were permitted in the parade, just humans woofing it up) the parade wound its way through the downtown streets. The SF/SPCA contingent was greeted with enthusiasm and affection during the two hours that it took the parade to finish. Our staff and volunteers may have been dog tired at the end but The Year of the Dog certainly got off to a grrrrreat start. “Gung hay fat choi.”
