December 2, 2019
City of Sydney Launches Lunar New Year of the Rat 2020 with
LUNAR LANES
Date and time: Saturday 25 January 2020, 5pm-10pm
Location: Sussex St, Hay St, Harbour St, Little Hay St and Dixon St Mall
Following the success of HCC’s Haymarket Heartbeat last year, City of Sydney are launching very exciting celebrations on Lunar New Years Day by transforming Haymarket laneways into a street party with real community spirit with Lunar Lanes Year of the Rat 2020/
From 5pm, Chinatown will be buzzing with plenty of entertainment including roving street performers, face painting, kids craft activities, classic carnival games, live music and a spectacular fireworks display at 8.30pm. There will be over 2 hours of cultural performances from our Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Taiwanese and Japanese communities.
Catch one of the lion dancing performances at Lunar Lanes. With 13 performances lined up, you won’t miss the thunderous drumming and the sight of lions weaving in and out of the crowds. From 8.30pm, the brightly illuminated LED lions and a 10m LED dragon will sweep and twist their way through the bustling lanes.
Visit one of the many famed restaurants in Chinatown for a celebratory feast or grab a festival friendly snack from one of the vendors.
On Dixon St Mall, a pair of 2.8m high golden Robot Rat lanterns have been designed by Claudia Chan Shaw to delight and amuse you with their animated features. The Robot Rats will be in Chinatown for one night only, before joining a larger display of 9 rats at the Lunar Lanterns exhibition on 31 January at Circular Quay.