Tet Festival in Fountain Valley

Lunar New Year festivities may be over but I can still recall the wonderful time I had at the first Lunar New Year event I attended in the year of the cat (rabbit). Of all the Lunar New Year festivals I’ve attended thus far in Southern California, this was the best one I’ve attended. I realize that it’s been a long time since I last went to any festival but I can assure you that I’m not being biased in any way here. If you ever ponder between attending the Tet Festival in Costa Mesa versus the one in Fountain Valley, opt for the one in Fountain Valley. For starters, there is no admission fee to Fountain Valley’s Tet Festival.

Parking was plentiful but required a bit of a trek to the festival’s exact grounds. (There was actually a shortcut that you can take but I think many people weren’t aware of this or at least I wasn’t aware of it from the get go.)

If you get there early, the stage and chairs will be empty because there won’t be any performances until a lot later. It would have been helpful to know this beforehand online but everyone is basically in limbo of the festival’s schedule until you take note of a piece of paper on a miniscule board which displays the day’s schedule. I honestly wouldn’t have noticed it had I not caught a man staring intently at the board. (I actually thought he was being strange at first…)

If you’re a foodie, there are many food vendors. I didn’t bother with buying anything since I figured everything would be expensive.

If you’re a freebie fanatic, you can visit booths for freebies. Some booths let you spin a wheel where you can win specific prizes. I got a tote, face masks, milk tea that was expiring that day, hand sanitizer that was expiring soon, a water bottle (Amusing because the vendor didn’t seem to want to give me one at first. I think they were focused on “older” Vietnamese guests that would possibly become their potential guests. Meh), a free sample of Vietnamese sea grapes (I was today years old when I learned that it’s not just Okinawa that has sea grapes. lol), a free probiotics sample for my pet, a tassel, a magnetic clip and so on. Am I a freebie fanatic? Maybe… I had fun trying to get as many freebies as I could, though. Lol

There was a guy that flashed me. I don’t think he did it on purpose but he was trying to show his freebie and how I should get this same freebie as him. In the process of showing his freebie (a card holder?), he flashed me his hairy tummy. Lol Not funny. He was friendly but I got away as soon as I could…

There was a nice area to take memorable photos. You needed someone with you to take photos of you because it was just practically impossible to take decent selfies here. (You can refer to my video and check out the photo opps they had.)

They also had a lot of rides and games that I didn’t care for because I didn’t want to spend money. I feel that the rides and games were what attracted many people to the festival if they weren’t here specifically for the Tet Festival. I think that’s great because the more, the merrier, I guess? Lol In addition to the festival’s rides and games, the park’s grounds had swans you could rent to pedal on in a lake. It seemed like a workout I didn’t want to get involved in. lol I just enjoyed watching other people take part in this exercise on the lake. I believe they actually had swans for solo pedalers but if a swan for two pedalers is a heavy workout, I don’t want to imagine how much of a workout it’d be for a solo pedaler. It also didn’t help that the rent for the swan was rather high. Obviously, I was not about to spend my money just to work out on a swan! Lol

At the stage, they featured cultural performances, girls in ao dais and costumes representing various countries, live singing, speeches and of course, the lion dance.

I was waiting for the lion dance and it was well worth the wait. The lion dance was excellent. Best of all, there wasn’t just one lion dance performance, but two. One on stage and another one on the field, after the firecrackers were all lit up.

I know I managed to be a cheapskate throughout the day, but in the end of it all, I gave money to a lion dancer.

There comes a time when you feel pressured or obliged to give money to a lion dancer(s) but in this case, I actually wanted to. I gave it after the masses had already fed the lion dancers, so I don’t think he was expecting it, since it took a while before he “chomped” on my hand a good amount of times. (Translation: eating my money.)

It was a good day, y’all. I left the festival, happy. Very happy. And that’s a good thing since that’s a feeling I needed to feel in the midst of the weirdness in this world.

**Click HERE to watch my video of the Tet Festival!**