Thousands brave sub-zero temperatures to attend Vancouver Chinese New Year Parade

Thousands of people braved sub-zero temperatures in Vancouver on Sunday to participate in the 46th-annual Chinese New Year Parade.

This year’s event celebrates the year of the pig.

The multicultural parade included 70 entries, including marching bands, cultural dance troupes and drummers, accounting for more than 3,000 participants.

It also featured the largest assembly of traditional lion dance teams in Canada.

Paraders marched from the Millennium Gate on East Pender Street, down Gore Street and then back on Keefer Street to finish at Abbott Street over the course of about two-and-a-half hours.

The event drew politicians from several parties, including Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart and federal Liberal Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.

NDP Leader and Burnaby South byelection candidate Jagmeet Singh was also in attendance.

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“It’s a great celebration of community and culture, a great show of the power of the community coming together and a rich heritage: music, dance, arts, culture,” he said.

The year of the pig on the Chinese Lunar Calendar began earlier this month.