Pelham Art Center to Host Free Lunar New Year Celebration With Workshops and Performances

PELHAM, NY (January 30, 2026) — Pelham Art Center will host its annual Lunar New Year celebration on Sunday, February 8, 2026, from 1 to 3 p.m. as part of its Folk Arts Series.

The event, the second of three in the series, is free and open to the public of all ages with no registration required.

This year’s celebration will feature a Chinese art workshop with artist Lida Yang Zimmerman and performances by Li Garden Dance Company. Visitors will also be encouraged to share their wishes for the year on a community branch, and a limited number of red envelopes with a surprise treat inside will be given away.

The Chinese art workshop in Studio 1 will run as an ongoing drop-in from 1 to 3 p.m. It will include kid-friendly paper cutting techniques, with participants invited to create their own horse in accordance with the Year of the Horse, along with fish and paper lanterns for younger children. Visitors may come and go throughout the event.

From 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Main Gallery, Li Garden Dance Company will present a program including a dazzling dragon dance, sword dance, storytelling, graceful dance pieces, an informational segment, and an interactive component where children in the audience will be invited to try out dragon dancing.

Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most celebrated and longest of all Asian festivals and is observed by millions worldwide. This year’s Lunar New Year is symbolized by the Fire Horse. Although sometimes called Chinese New Year in the West, it is celebrated by billions of people worldwide and is not observed only in China. As with many winter solstice celebrations, the symbolic darkness of night is banished by the light of fireworks, lanterns, and candles. Man-made paper lanterns are hung by the hundreds in public areas, bringing good luck to the new year.

For more information, visit https://www.pelhamartcenter.org/events/.

Pelham Art Center is a non-profit educational and cultural institution committed to providing public access to see, study and experience the arts, foster lifelong arts appreciation and thereby strengthen the community. Founded in 1970, it now serves more than 16,000 people each year. These events and programs are made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with funds from Westchester County Government with the support of County Executive George Latimer. Pelham Art Center also receives funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, TD Charitable Foundation, Pelham community members and Annual Fund donors.

This article was drafted with the aid of Grok, an AI tool by xAI, under the direction and editing of Robert Cox to ensure accuracy and adherence to journalistic standards.