Hundreds Attend Ingleside Lunar New Year at Unity Plaza; Mayor, Candidates Present

Hundreds of neighbors from Ingleside turned out for a Lunar New Year celebration at Unity Plaza between the Whole Foods and City College, Mission Local reported, with vendors, traditional dancers, family activities and political outreach filling Ocean Avenue on Feb. 28. District 11 congressional candidates Connie Chan and Scott Wiener stumped in Cantonese to win over votes, and Mayor Daniel Lurie roused the crowd with “Let’s go, San Francisco!” as performers rehearsed behind the political stage.

The scene was colorful and crowded, Mission Local noted: Chinese folk dancers in traditional red jackets and flowing blue trousers went through the paces while flashing red cotton peonies, and women in traditional qi pao preened to look their best. Artists painted children’s faces and kids fished for prizes; older attendees jammed vendor booths to get Lunar New Year “passport” cards stamped for a chance to win a $10 voucher good at Ingleside businesses. Mission Local wrote that “an hour into the event, there was no letting up at the party.”

Political outreach was a visible component of the afternoon. Mission Local reported that candidates circulated among tents and spoke in Cantonese, seeking votes in the neighborhood as part of their District 11 outreach. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s appearance and chant provided a public rallying moment amid the performances and merchant booths.

Public-safety officials and merchants used the lead-up to the event to press the city on crime, ABC7 reported. San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott joined Supervisor Cheyanne Chen and community leaders to promote the celebration and discuss patrols. “We've had some overnight burglaries, arrested some people. They have declined a little bit. It's still out there,” Scott said to ABC7. GoGo 7 restaurant owner Marilyn Lee told the chief she had three break-ins last year and said, “It was terrible. It's terrible, and they took the cash register too.” Supervisor Chen told ABC7 that “break-ins are still happening in my district, but I appreciate that we are working closely with the police station.” Sarah Wan, executive director of the Community Youth Center, framed the event in safety terms, saying, “During Covid, there was a lot of anti-Asian hate. People have fear related to public safety, so we keep doing this on Ocean Avenue celebration throughout Covid. This is a neighborhood for our youth and families. It's actually safe,” ABC7 quoted.

Local listings and on-site reporting differ on the date of the celebration. The Ingleside Light’s “Things To Do” listing by Anne Marie Kristoff scheduled a Lunar New Year Celebration at Unity Plaza for Saturday, Feb. 28, noon to 3 p.m., free with RSVP; Mission Local’s on-site coverage likewise identifies Feb. 28. ABC7, however, described city leaders promoting an upcoming Ocean Avenue celebration “happening on Feb. 22.” The discrepancy on the calendar date appears in the contemporaneous coverage.

Mission Local credited photographer Jay A Martin for images from the plaza, and the Ingleside Light’s listing referenced a 2025 photo showing a pink lion dancer as a visual precedent for the neighborhood tradition. The mixture of cultural performance, merchant outreach and city safety briefings underscored Ocean Avenue’s role as both a civic forum and commercial corridor, with merchants’ calls for more patrols and candidates’ Cantonese outreach shaping how the celebration was experienced in Ingleside.