Chinese New Year celebrations in Monterey Park will be held Saturday and Sunday, January 28 and January 29, 2012 under a new event organizer.

The event coordinator is the World Journal, a Chinese language daily newspaper based in Monterey Park. The newspaper recently reached an agreement with the sponsoring City of Monterey Park and the Downtown Business Improvement District.

The announcement was made at a city hall press conference on Dec. 2 attended by James Guo, president of the World Journal, and Monterey Park City Officials including Vice Mayor Mitchell Ing, Council members Betty Tom Chu and Teresa Real Sebastian. Mayor David Lau and Councilman Anthony Wong did not attend because they are on a trip to China.

Steven Lam, president of the Business Improvement District board invited all the community to plan on participating.

Guo announced that the two-day festival would have music, entertainment, cultural activities and more than a 100 vendor booths.
Vendor booths are currently available at a price of $600. BID area business people and non-profit organizations will receive a 25% discount, they announced.

World Journal has held its own Chinese New Year celebrations at its Monterey Park headquarters at Corporate Center. Gou said more than 20,000 people attended the festival last year.

The Monterey Park Festival is a two-day event that usually draws about 50,000 people. Last year’s celebration was marred by a dispute over the early closure of the event because of predicted heavy rainstorms.

An altercation occurred between city staff and a religious group that was participating in the event. As a result, there was heated discussions at two following council meetings that resulted in an apology from then mayor Betty Tom Chu.

The city issued a “request for proposals” for possible organizers of the 2011 celebration, but no responses were received. Subsequently, World Journal contacted city officials with a proposal.

The actual Chinese New Year will be observed on January 22 and will be the Year of the Dragon.

Celebrations are held throughout many cities, including Alhambra, Rosemead, Arcadia and Los Angeles and wherever there are large Chinese American populations.