On February 17th, 2026, I photographed the 28thAnnual Chinese New Year’s Day FireCracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival in New York City’s Chinatown, held in at Sara Roosevelt Park’s basketball court.Numerous dance and ritual performances began the ceremony before a panoply of invited New York City elected officials, community and civic organizations representatives took their turns making complimentary remarks.The spectacle of red and gold themes was ever-present as well as a procession of handlers of dragons traversed inside and outside the park.Towards end of the remarks, a dragon was painted by those on the dais to commemorate a good year.Next an elaborate staging of two poles was hastily built for a person to hold the a dragon aloft to be added a banner with chinses writing and symbols extending its length.Finally, in the epicenter, the festival culminated with many in dragons’ costumes paraded around while drums rang out. It culminated with the switching on the huge fireworks display on the opposite side.