When it comes to parties and celebrations, Las Vegas goes all out. Even though Thanksgiving has been put aside for another year, Christmas is but a distant memory and New Year’s is long gone, it’s not quite time to pull out the Valentine’s Day decorations. Instead, Las Vegas is welcoming the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Snake.
While I was compiling a list of all the Chinese New Year’s activities taking place in the city, someone unfamiliar with Las Vegas commented on how strange it is that the city embraces the holiday so wholeheartedly; after all, Chinese make up just 0.5% of the city’s population, according to the 2010 U.S. census. It never dawned on me that the city’s extensive plans for the holiday were in any way odd; after all, if Las Vegas is going to celebrate something, it goes all the way.
Throughout the rest of January and into February, the Year of the Snake is on artistic display using tens of thousands of flowers in the Bellagio’s Conservatory and Botanical Gardens as well as the atrium area of the Palazzo. The spa at the Mandarin Oriental has created three exclusive treatments for the holiday, available through Feb 28.
From Feb. 8 to 10, there will be a number of Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean cultural celebrations held throughout the Fremont Street Experience. On February 9 at 3:30, a fire dance will snake through the
Venetian and the Palazzo. Similar dances will be held throughout Aria and Crystals at CityCenter on Feb. 11 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., from Wynn Las Vegas to Encore Las Vegas on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. and through the Bellagio at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 12. In addition, several restaurants are offering special menu items for the holiday.
Anyone visiting Las Vegas through early February should make it a point to embrace the city’s festivities for the Chinese New Year. Most people know the city for its nightclubs, gambling and shows, but stepping under the skin of this cultural celebration provides an entirely different way to appreciate the city.
A full list of events going on in Las Vegas over the Chinese New Year can be found here: www.lvcva.com/article/las-vegas-celebrates-chinese-new-year/881/