Monterey Park celebrates Lunar New Year a year after tragic shooting left 11 dead
The City of Monterey Park is coming together to celebrate the Lunar New Year, over a year after a tragic shooting claimed 11 lives at the festival in 2023.
The celebrations are taking place at Downtown Monterey Park and will feature food vendors, entertainment, family activities, and merchants to bring in the Year of the Dragon. The event will take place from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The Year of the Dragon represents strength, health, and good luck.
“The very first day of the new year is very, very important,” said festival-goer Alexandra Seto. “We have to get along, no fighting and you have to do good deeds.”
This year’s celebration is being used as a moment to reflect on the tragedy that occurred at the 2023 Lunar New Year festivities.
The community of Monterey Park, Calif. celebrates the Lunar New Year a little more than a year after a tragic shooting rocked the community. Attendees celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park on Jan. 27, 2024. (KTLA) Attendees celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park on Jan. 27, 2024. (KTLA) Attendees celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park on Jan. 27, 2024. (KTLA) Attendees celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park on Jan. 27, 2024. (KTLA) The 11 victims of the mass shooting in Monterey Park, California Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday night to remember the victims of the deadly Monterey Park mass shooting. (KTLA) Eric Sham visits a makeshift memorial on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 for those killed in a mass shooting at The Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park. (Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP) Two police vehicles are seen near a building where a shooting occurred in Monterey Park, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. Nine people were killed in a mass shooting late Saturday in a city east of Los Angeles following a Lunar New Year celebration that attracted thousands, police said. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) New surveillance video shows the violent struggle between the suspected Monterey Park gunman and the 26-year-old man who disarmed him at the Lai Lai Ballroom on Jan. 21, 2023. (Lai Lai Ballroom and Studio) People attend a vigil outside Monterey Park City Hall, blocks from the Star Ballroom Dance Studio on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Monterey Park, Calif. A gunman killed multiple people at the ballroom dance studio late Saturday amid Lunar New Years celebrations in the predominantly Asian American community. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis) A community held a candlelight vigil outside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park to remember loved ones lost during a mass shooting. (KTLA) A woman comforts her son while visiting a makeshift memorial outside Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, Calif., Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. Authorities searched for a motive for the gunman who killed multiple people at the ballroom dance studio during Lunar New Year celebrations. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Inez Arakaki comforts her son Zachary as they visit a makeshift memorial site in front of the Star Dance Studio in Monterey Park on Jan. 23, 2023, where 10 people were shot dead late on Jan. 21, 2023. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) Residents walk across a Lunar New Year festival site after it was canceled due to a mass shooting nearby in Monterey Park, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. A gunman killed multiple people at a ballroom dance studio late Saturday amid Lunar New Years celebrations in the predominantly Asian American community of Monterey Park. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Law enforcement personnel gather outside a ballroom dance club in Monterey Park on Jan. 22, 2023. A mass shooting took place at the dance club following a Lunar New Year celebration, setting off a manhunt for the suspect. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Attendees celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park on Jan. 27, 2024. (KTLA) Attendees celebrating the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park on Jan. 27, 2024. (KTLA)
A lone gunman entered the Star Ballroom Dance Studio and killed 11 people while injuring nine more. The perpetrator was identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound the following day during a standoff with police in Torrance.
This year, the community is focused on healing and moving on from the tragedy that rocked the city early last year.
Monterey Park is located seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles. With roughly 65 percent of the population identifying as Asian, the Lunar New Year is a major holiday in the community.
Admission and parking for the Lunar New Year Festival is free. Roads on Garvey Avenue between Garfield and Alhambra Avenues will be closed to vehicle traffic. More information on the event can be found here.
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