Chinatown street closures still on tonight for lion dances

The “Night in Chinatown” parade and street festival originally scheduled for Saturday may be canceled, but there still will be street closures in the area this afternoon and tonight due to a separate Chinese New Year celebration that is proceeding.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii is holding its annual “Chinatown Open House — Lion Dance” events tonight. It features the Choy Chen ceremony, which involves lion dances and firecrackers at storefronts. The cultural tradition is designed to ward off evil spirits for the coming year.

Signs placed early Thursday morning show street closures from 3 p.m. today to 1 a.m. Saturday.

“No signage was put in place for the parade or the block party,” city spokesman Andrew Pereira said. “All the signs are for the lion dances.”

According to the permit issued to the chamber, affected streets include Nuuanu Avenue (between South King and South Beretania streets), Smith Street (between Nimitz Highway and Beretania), Maunakea Street (between Nimitz and Beretania), King (between Nuuanu and River streets), Pauahi Street (between Nuuanu and Maunakea) and Hotel Street (between Nuuanu and River).

All those streets will be closed on a staggered basis roughly between 6 and 11 p.m., an event representative said.

The Choy Chen ceremony is separate from the annual parade and street festival organized by the Chinatown Merchants Association, which abruptly canceled its events Tuesday night, citing a lack of vendors and available funding.

The city had agreed to provide an estimated $60,000 in “in-kind” services for the merchants association’s events for special-duty police, trash collection, the Royal Hawaiian Band, coning and related activities. None of that is happening now, Pereira said.

The city additionally agreed to provide about $12,000 to the chamber in in-kind services for its event tonight, and that will go on, he said.

Meanwhile, the chamber is also still holding its annual Chinese New Year celebration at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza at 100 N. King St. tonight from 5 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The event will feature more than 30 vendors that will put out food and crafts booths. There also will be lion dancing and other live entertainment.

Chinese New Year is Feb. 16.