{"id":176586,"date":"2026-02-13T14:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176586\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:34:08","slug":"mardi-gras-lunar-new-year-and-burning-man-join-forces-at-2-sacramento-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176586\/","title":{"rendered":"Mardi Gras, Lunar New Year and Burning Man Join Forces at 2 Sacramento Events"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Marching bands, floats and
\n Burning Man performers will share space with lion dancers, \u00e1o d\u00e0i
\n fashion shows and \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d cosplayers at two
\n combination Lunar New Year and Mardi Gras celebrations this
\n month.\n<\/p>\n

\n First, Elk Grove\u2019s annual Lunar
\n New Year festival and parade will take place Feb. 14-15 at Elk
\n Grove Regional Park, this year billed as 2026 Lunar New Year T\u1ebft Festival & Parade
\n Introducing Mardi Gras<\/a> and Asian Cajun Village. A few weeks later,
\n the City of Trees Parade and Mardi Gras
\n Festival<\/a> will return
\n to downtown Sacramento Feb. 28, featuring Lunar New Year elements
\n along with performers from the city\u2019s Burning Man
\n contingent.\n<\/p>\n

\n Organizers say the fusion of
\n traditions from Louisiana, East and Southeast Asia, and Burning
\n Man\u2019s Black Rock City is a perfect fit for the Capital Region\u2019s
\n diversity. Here\u2019s a preview of what you can expect at February\u2019s
\n most colorful events in the capital.\n<\/p>\n

Bringing \u2018Asian Cajun\u2019 to
\n Sacramento<\/p>\n

\n Sue
\n Ramon<\/a>, known as \u201cLouisiana Sue,\u201d has been
\n organizing Mardi Gras events for nearly 40 years. A native of the
\n historic city of Chalmette near New Orleans, Ramon has already
\n brought heritage parties from her hometown to Old Sacramento,
\n Yuba City, Rancho Cordova and the Delta city of Isleton.
\n Sometimes these bashes are Mardi Gras parades; other times
\n they\u2019re crawdad cooking
\n festivals<\/a>. In either
\n case, Ramon always finds fellow \u201cNOLA\u201d transplants to help make
\n the food and vibes authentic.\n<\/p>\n

\n With so many parties under her
\n belt, Ramon is particularly excited to be working on a new
\n endeavor around Sacramento-area Mardi Gras. It was set in motion
\n when two organizations, the Vietnamese American Community of
\n Sacramento and the Community Partners Advocate of Little Saigon,
\n decided that Elk Grove\u2019s annual T\u1ebft observances should have some
\n Crescent City ingredients thrown in. VACOS and CPALS recruited
\n Ramon and veteran publicist and radio personality Jimmy T. Chong
\n to help develop the idea.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Attendees enjoy Mardi Gras festivities in Sacramento. (Courtesy
\n photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n The combination makes sense, says
\n Ramon. \u201cI will say, in Louisiana, since we\u2019re already such a
\n gumbo of people, we tend to fuse fast whenever a new community
\n moves in,\u201d Ramon says. \u201cBefore we had the Vietnamese influence,
\n we had the French Quarter, we had the German Quarter, we had the
\n Italian Quarter. So they became part of an ongoing story. What
\n we\u2019re trying to do with this new event is blend all the cooking
\n and musical styles together and have a really great time. The
\n \u2018Asian Cajun\u2019 thing was just a natural fit.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n She adds, \u201cThis is also part of
\n my broader belief that Sacramento Mardi Gras should be its own
\n kind of Mardi Gras.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The Lunar New Year T\u1ebft Festival
\n in Elk Grove will feature a \u201cMardi Gras and Asian Cajun Village\u201d
\n hosting Southern-inspired food trucks like Rowe\u2019s Low & Slow
\n BBQ<\/a>, Lizetta\u2019s Southern Soul Food<\/a>
\n and Savory Dave\u2019s Barbecue<\/a>
\n alongside Hmong food truck
\n
\n Wonton Crunchies<\/a>,
\n Brazilian-Chinese Fusion Bites<\/a> and Filipino Baboy Boys<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019ve also done a number of
\n events with Louisiana Sue, and we just like to be part of her
\n team,\u201d says Kenneth Rowe II, the pit master behind Low & Slow
\n BBQ.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Kenneth Rowe II, the pit master behind Low & Slow BBQ, says he\u2019s
\n looking forward to being part of combined Lunar New Year and
\n Mardi Gras events this year. (Courtesy photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hip-hop and karaoke at
\n Lunar New Year<\/p>\n

\n Known around Sacramento as \u201cthe
\n Wok Star,\u201d Jimmy T. Chong previously emceed the Vietnamese Lunar
\n Flower Festival in Sacramento and the Chinese New Year Parade and
\n Festival in Stockton.\n<\/p>\n

\n Chong has been helping Ramon and
\n the organizers line up a mix of impressive musical performers for
\n the Lunar New Year T\u1ebft Festival & Parade in Elk Grove, including
\n New Orleans-influenced performers like the Big Chiefs, the Mark
\n St. Mary Louisiana Blues & Zydeco Band and the Fortune Panthers
\n Marching Band.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The local hip-hop artist Aaron Le will headline this year\u2019s Lunar
\n New Year T\u1ebft Festival. (Courtesy photo)\n<\/p>\n

The Lunar
\n New Year T\u1ebft Festival\u2019s headliner is Aaron Le, a young, rising
\n hip hop artist from Sacramento. \u201cAaron Le is really local and has
\n been getting a lot of play on Instagram,\u201d Chong says.\n<\/p>\n

\n Chong, who also hosts karaoke at
\n different venues across the region with City Wide Karaoke, will
\n be personally handling the Lunar New Year T\u1ebft Festival\u2019s public
\n karaoke at the outside pavilion between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Feb.
\n 14 before acting as master emcee for the ticketed Valentine\u2019s Day
\n Karaoke Experience at 7 p.m.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cKaraoke brings people together,\u201d
\n Chong says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the bigger idea with this festival in
\n general. It\u2019s going to offer a really different experience with
\n East meets West; and I don\u2019t know of anyone who\u2019s done this
\n particular kind of event \u2014 and especially on this level.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u2018Burner\u2019 lights at Mardi
\n Gras<\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s not hard for Wes Samms,
\n founder of the City of Trees Parade and Mardi Gras Festival, to
\n explain why so many Sacramento-area Burning Man fanatics love
\n being involved in an event that\u2019s based on New Orleans
\n traditions.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think the one area of overlap
\n between Burning Man and Mardi Gras is radical self-expression,\u201d
\n said Samms, who\u2019s had his own burner experiences in the Black
\n Rock Desert. \u201cYou know, the costumes, and the idea of being
\n completely funky and free, that\u2019s something you find both at
\n Burning Man and in New Orleans.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Widely believed to be the biggest
\n Mardi Gras parade in California, the City of Trees procession
\n will mark its fifth outing with colorful floats and more than
\n 1,300 performers. Some of its eye-catching spectacles rolling
\n through Sacramento will be art installations that were previously
\n showcased at Burning Man.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n A float passes through Old Sacramento at the 2025 City of Trees
\n Mardi Gras parade. (Courtesy photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Starting at 3 p.m., the parade
\n route goes from the west steps of the state Capitol to the city\u2019s
\n waterfront, passing by two blocks that are sectioned-off festival
\n grounds on Capitol Mall. Entrance to that festival quarter
\n is ticketed<\/a> and includes seating, food trucks, adult
\n beverages and bathrooms. Oak Park Brewing is also making a
\n special Mardi Gras beer that will be poured inside the festival
\n area.\n<\/p>\n

\n Anyone can catch the parade for
\n free along its designated route. Later, the festival will host an
\n electric dance party between 7 and 9 p.m., which will be
\n augmented by LED-lit floats, glowing art pieces and fire
\n spinners.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have brand new floats that
\n have never been seen before in our parade this year, especially
\n the Giving Tree, which is a very large art car in the shape of an
\n anthropomorphic tree,\u201d Samms explained. \u201cWe\u2019re also going to see
\n the Hundreds Unit, which is a dance troupe led by our Mardi Gras
\n Queen from 2023. And there will be a return of some of our
\n favorites, like the Teng Fei Lion Dance of Sacramento, the UC
\n Davis Marching Band and a number of wonderful surprises.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur parade is about celebrating
\n Sacramento and Northern California culture, and all of the
\n different spectacular aspects of our region\u2019s diversity,\u201d Samms
\n adds. \u201cYou\u2019ll find those things completely centered in Sacramento
\n at this parade.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

History Sidebar: A Hybrid Tradition<\/p>\n

\n Mardi Gras, French for Fat
\n Tuesday, has always been a hybridized tradition in New Orleans.
\n Simmering pots of gumbo \u2014 a dish that blends French, African,
\n Spanish and Native American influences \u2014 became a standing
\n metaphor for the menagerie of backstories that gives Mardi Gras
\n season such profound energy, not to mention shorthand for why
\n New Orleans itself is so unique on the American
\n landscape.\n <\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Mardi Gras 1878 at the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans as
\n depicted in Frank Leslie\u2019s Illustrated Newspaper. (Public domain
\n via Wikimedia Commons)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Beginning in the early 1700s,
\n Mardi Gras was originally a Catholic celebration started by
\n French settlers, with weeks of masked galas, musical
\n processions and sumptuous eating binges prior to Lent. Other
\n Catholic immigrants, including Spanish, Irish, Italian and
\n German families, added their own traditions through the 18th
\n and 19th centuries.\n <\/p>\n

\n Like the rest of the South,
\n early Mardi Gras celebrations were segregated, but New Orleans\u2019
\n Black and Afro-Caribbean communities took part from the
\n beginning (with records suggesting
\n Black and mixed-race people<\/a> joined white-only festivities while masked
\n or otherwise disguised). By the 1900s they were forming their
\n own krewes, groups that stage balls and organize or take part
\n in parades. The result is the
\n Mardi Gras
\n Indian<\/a> tradition, a
\n syncretized culture drawing from Native American, West African
\n and Caribbean elements.\n <\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Mardi Gras Indians at New Orleans Jazz Fest 2014. (Photo by
\n kowarski via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Given that syncretic trend,
\n it\u2019s not surprising that Vietnam War refugees who began moving
\n to the city in 1975 became part of its creative life force.
\n Today, some of the top
\n King Cake bakers<\/a>
\n in New Orleans are Vietnamese
\n Americans, while an exciting culinary collision of Vietnamese
\n techniques and Gulf Coast spices has come to be known as the
\n \u201cAsian Cajun\u201d phenomenon.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u2013\n<\/p>\n

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\n Instagram!\n<\/p>\n