Students, volunteers and alumni invited the community to help celebrate the Chinese New Year with activities, entertainment and food.

Velzy commons in Ullsvik Hall was decorated with red and gold for UW-P’s celebration of the spring festival welcoming the Chinese year of the tiger. Those born in the year of the tiger (every 12 years) are known for charisma, compulsivity, enthusiasm and energy.

The day started out with the opening lion dance done by the Zhong Yi Kung Fu Association Lion Dance Troupe. The troupe performs the Lion Dance for Chinese New Years festivals, grand openings for businesses, weddings and other festivals in Wisconsin.

“The acts are all really interesting and exciting,” Anna Brudos, a junior criminal justice major said. “The entire day was entertaining and the food was great.”

Other performances throughout the day included Chinese folk songs and dances, martial arts and sing-alongs. The sing-along was led by the exchange students from South-Central University for Nationalities in Wuhan, China. The Platteville High School F-Troupe, a group who creates skits for promoting social awareness, performed a short play for the celebration.

This is the second year UW-P has recognized the Chinese New Year. Both years there were only about 250 guests expected to participate, but this year drew in about 450 people from campus and the community. Marian Maciej-Hiner, Confusious Institute Director was in charge of the festival and said she was happy with how the festival went.

“[The celebration] is great,” Chang Thao, a junior elementary education major said. “There is a lot more variety from last year and it’s cool to see [the festival] grow so much in two years.”

Crafts and activities were available for guests to participate in at any time throughout the day. There was lantern making, Chinese paper-cutting, calligraphy, dumpling-making and dragon-making. Each activity was available for anyone to participate in.

Maciej-Hiner said she looks forward to next year’s celebration for the year of the rabbit and is expecting more and more guests to attend as UW-P continues the festival.