Lunar New Year block party lights up downtown SLO with food, fun and a drone show

A first-of-its-kind block party is set to take over a downtown San Luis Obispo street on Saturday as the city and a local business partner to celebrate Lunar New Year and the contributions of the city’s historic Chinatown district.

The party will take over a block of Palm Street between Chorro and Morro streets throughout the day, starting at 11 a.m.

It will feature a number of events, presentations and activities for people to partake in as they celebrate both the new year and the 150th anniversary of the Ah Louis Store, one of the last remaining vestiges of the city’s historic Chinatown.

“We’re so excited that the city, in partnership with the Ah Louis Store and the team at Karson Butler Events, is able to have this brand new community event,” economic development and tourism manager Molly Cano told The Tribune in the week before the party. “I think something that we’re really excited about is being able to tell the story overall for the historic Chinatown district and be able to really kind of put a focus and an emphasis on this unique historic district that we have within the community.”

Cano said Karson Butler Events, which opened up a retail gift shop in the Ah Louis building in 2016, was instrumental in planning and executing the unique event.

Co-founder and CEO Amber Karson said she and her sister Emily Butler had long been looking for ways to honor the history of the building and the legacy of its original owner, Ah Louis.

“It’s been a dream of ours to reinvigorate what we’ve learned about the history,” Karson told The Tribune on Monday. “That’s really important to Emily and me. When we are in that building, the whole point is to bring love and light back to the Louis home. It was such a cornerstone of our community.”

Ah Louis Store building celebrates 150th anniversary

Beside being a prominent businessman, Ah Louis was also something of an honorary mayor of San Luis Obispo’s original Chinatown, which spanned a swath of Palm Street until much of it was bulldozed in the 1950s.

The brick Ah Louis Store that sits on the corner of Palm and Chorro streets today was built in 1885, replacing a wooden one that was built in 1874, and is one of the last remaining buildings original to that district.

Over the years, it at times served as a post office, general store, bank and an employment office, besides being a gathering point for the Chinese community in San Luis Obispo.

Karson noted that during its lengthy history, the building and the block were also the site of numerous parties and celebrations, including ones for the Lunar New Year.

Taking that into mind as the building’s 150th anniversary approached, Karson said she felt the time was right to connect with the city for a massive celebration focused around the store’s birthday and Lunar New Year.

The city and Butler reached out to local cultural groups, including the Central Coast Chinese Association and the Cal Poly Chinese Students’ Association, for input while planning the event.

They also have been working directly with the Louis family, especially Dr. William Watson, Louis’ grandson and the owner of the Ah Louis Store building, she said.

Beside the Ah Louis Store, other businesses in the Chinatown district — including Mee Heng Low, the Palm Theatre and Hotel San Luis Obispo — will also have special activities for the block party.

“It is really kind of this fantastic synergy between a lot of people that have been dreaming and planning this for a while,” Karson said.

San Luis Obispo diversity, equity and inclusion manager Nestor Veloz-Passalacqua said the celebration is a way for the city to highlight the important contributions of diverse populations to the region’s history — but also as a way to acknowledge its diversity today.

“Something that is very critical, that we want to be able to acknowledge, is we want to make sure people know the city is in fact, quite diverse,” he said. “We want people to know that they are critical today.”

SLO prepares for block party, hangs historic neon sign

A flurry of activity was happening downtown on Friday afternoon as the city continued preparations for Saturday’s celebration.

Against a backdrop of bright red hanging lanterns strung across the street, workers helped install the Chong’s Candy Store neon sign on the side of the parking garage at 812 Palm St., as well as a new sign that declared the area the Chinatown Historic District.

Chong’s Candy Store was a Chinatown business that crafted handmade candy for decades. Its original sign was acquired by the city and kept in storage for some time before recently being restored so it could be installed on the side of the parking structure.

On Monday, the city and Karson were also nervously keeping eyes on the forecast in case this winter’s characteristically stormy weather returned. But as of Friday, the outlook was calling for sunny skies in San Luis Obispo throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the decorations will remain throughout the month of February, including lanterns and lighting along Palm Street and an homage to a Paifang, or a decorative Chinese archway, adjacent to the Ah Louis Store, according to a city release.

What’s on the lineup for Lunar New Year block party?

The free community event will feature a full day of activities and experiences for visitors.

It’s expected to kick off with various booths staged throughout the block, showcasing local clubs and associations. Many of those booths will feature activities and food, according to the schedule posted on the events website, slochinatownhistoricdistrict.com.

An opening ceremony and celebration of the Ah Louis Store’s 150 years is set for 2 p.m., followed by a performance from the Central Coast Chinese Association. A food panel on “SLO’s Rising Asian Food Scene” will take place at 3 p.m., and then a dance performance by the Cal Poly KAJA KREW at 4 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Palm Theatre will hold a special screening of the 2001 romantic drama “In the Mood for Love” at 4:15 p.m.

Into the evening, the Inari Tea Lounge will host a tea ceremony demonstrations at 4:30 p.m., the Cal Poly Lion Dance Team will perform at 5 p.m. and a parking lot dance party will start at 6 p.m.

To cap off the evening, at 6:30 the city’s first-ever drone light show light up the sky, reminiscent of traditional fireworks.