While the Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade commenced with joyful music and lion dancers throughout the neighborhood, the Pao Arts Center on Feb. 9 hosted games, craft-making workshops, and art exhibitions.

Ashley Yung, the center’s theater and performance manager, says that hundreds of people from across the New England area make the trek out to Boston annually to celebrate Lunar New Year.

“Boston’s Chinatown is the only Chinatown in New England,” Yung said.

Pao Arts Center prioritizes community building through celebrating their annual Lunar New Year Festival, and this year, the Year of the Snake, was no exception. Tim and Sara Zhao, a couple from Cambridge, said that coming to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Chinatown has been an important experience to share with their children.

“I think it’s nice for our kids to know … a part of their history and different traditions and things to help celebrate the Lunar New Year,” said Sara.

Lily Chan, a mother with a four-year-old daughter from Malden, has been coming to the center’s annual festival for the past two years. As she mentioned that there’s an important cultural aspect for her daughter to be exposed to, she said there was an enriching one as well.

“It’s not just like, you know, coloring or markers or gluing,” Chan said as her daughter was making a bookmark inspired by a traditional Indonesian textile dyeing technique called batik. “It’s [also] creative.”

Pao Arts Center had more programming this year compared to any other—located on the outskirts of Chinatown, the Pao Arts Center hosted seven activities highlighting various Lunar New Year traditions, celebratory activities, and crafts inspired by Asian cultures.

Yung emphasized the importance of showcasing how different cultures celebrated the holiday to foster an inclusive community.

“So many cultures celebrate this new year,” Yung said. “All new years are very valid and deserve to be celebrated.”

Laurel Phan, a member of the Harvard Vietnamese Student Association, facilitated Bầu Cua Cá Cọp, a traditional Vietnamese dice game played during the New Year.

Phan said that she thought many attendees “really enjoyed the game” as it “lets them ask a few questions about the origins of this game or more about Vietnamese culture.”

Through all of the activities and art displays, attendees had the chance to interact with local artists and community members through art mediums ranging from embroidery to lion dance.

Multimedia Artist Kevin Ngyuen led an introductory lion dance demonstration. The 27-year-old has been a practicing lion dancer for 14 years. Ngyuen said that he was enthusiastic about sharing his passion for the art form with the neighborhood’s art center.

“They have such a strong community here,” Ngyuen said. “There’s good stuff happening here, there’s great energy and it just feels nice to engage with that.”

Pao Arts Center was still packed with families and community members welcoming the new year by immersing themselves in various activities as the festival came to a close that afternoon.

The festivities aren’t over yet: In the spirit of the Lunar New Year, Pao Arts Center is hosting a concert, “Return of The Wood Snake,” with a variety of R&B, rock, and hip-hop musicians on Feb. 21.