Celebrations taking place in Romford to mark Chinese New Year

The celebrations follow the success of last year’s event 

Events are being held in Romford town centre for Chinese New Year.

Celebrations for The Year of the Dragon will be held by Romford BID on Saturday, 10 February between 12noon – 4pm and include a range of free events.

Live performances by traditional Chinese lion dancers, a full-size Dragon, stilt walkers and dolly head performers will be taking place.

There’s also live music, drumming performances and face painting opportunities.

The celebrations follow the success of last year’s event.

Chinese food will be on offer from Wokabout in the market, and the teams at Sunrise Café and Pearl of the Orient within the Romford Shopping Hall will also be handing out free Chinese red New Year money envelopes to visitors, which are a way to send good wishes to loved ones during New Year, and fortune cookies.

The events will take place in the marketplace and will be free and open to everyone – no tickets or pre-booking will be required.

Chinese New Year 2024 is the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac. Each year in the Chinese zodiac is associated with an animal sign, and the Dragon is considered a symbol of strength, courage, and good fortune.

Romford BID Director, Julie Frost said: “We had a brilliant event last year, but we wanted to raise the bar even more in 2024 and arrange a far greater array of roaming entertainment that will really wow our visitors.

“An incredible seven people will be manning the giant dragon puppet, not to mention everything else that will be taking place, so it is going to be a very exciting and memorable event indeed.

“We are especially proud to hold events that celebrate different cultures and help bring our community even closer together. Throughout 2024 you’ll see a breadth of different cultural events taking place in the town so make sure you follow us on social media to understand everything we have planned.”