Red Bluff celebrates dragons and the immigrants who brought them
by Maxwell Tedford
Sun, February 4th 2024
The dragon parade is meant to bless a community with power and good luck. (KRCR)
The Helen and Joe Chew Foundation was the driving force behind the celebration in 2023 and 2024. (KRCR)
The Chinese lion symbolizes wisdom in the new year. (KRCR)
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A dragon came to Red Bluff on Sunday for the first time in over 100 years, and residents came out in droves to watch.
With the weather as bad as it was, events for Red Bluff's Chinese New Years Celebration were moved from the city's former Chinatown to the Tehama County Fairgrounds. Despite the change, organizers didn't let the move get in the way of bringing in the Year of the Dragon.
The Helen and Joe Chew Foundation was the driving force behind the celebration in 2023 and 2024. (KRCR)
"In 1908 [Wong Foey] brought in the first dragon, actually the only dragon that’s ever danced in Red Bluff," Mike Foey shared. "To dance in the Fourth of July parade they used to have.”
Mike Foey is one of the modern descendants of the Wong Foey family, the oldest recorded Chinese American family in the area. Foey says his grandfather, who ran several successful businesses after immigrating, acted as a bridge between new Chinese families and the wider American community in Red Bluff. Paying for the creation and commissioning of the first Chinese Dragon in America Moo Lung. However, that first year in 1908 was also the final year the dragon visited the community. Mike felt he had to continue the tradition for this last year of Chinese New Year Celebrations.
A Foey sponsored it then, and 116 years later, a Foey has to sponsor it again.
Vendors and performers filled the Tehama Fairground. All of them helped to highlight the culture of the Chinese Americans that used to call Red Bluff home.
The Chinese lion symbolizes wisdom in the new year. (KRCR)
Johnny Comfort, a local anthropology student who came to the celebration with friends, says being able to participate in an event like this is an amazing opportunity.
“We don’t have a bunch of cultural drawing events, you know, things that kinda bring people in," she said. "So this kind of stimulates the community in a way that exposes us to culture we wouldn’t really get in another opportunity.”
Jessica was the driving force behind this and last years celebrations. As one of the founders of the Jon and Helen Chew Foundation, she's played a pivotal role in getting these celebrations off the ground. She says seeing all the people come and experience a part of Red Bluff history that’s been all but forgotten is heart warming.
Music accompanies most the performances during the celebration. (KRCR)
“I think today is also a testament of this community, coming together 116 years later," Chew said. "We haven’t had a dragon since, or seeing and witnessing and sharing a Chinese New Year as a celebration.”
This is the last year Chew says they'll be able to afford hosting these celebrations with current funds. However they are coming out with a book later this year of oral accounts from descendants of Tehama County Chinese Americans. With or without the celebration, she says they will continue to promote the history and culture of the Chinese Americans who played such an important role in Red Bluff's history.