{"id":85388,"date":"2025-04-06T14:14:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T21:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=85388"},"modified":"2025-04-06T14:24:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T21:24:27","slug":"photos-cambodia-town-parade-long-beach-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/photos-cambodia-town-parade-long-beach-2025","title":{"rendered":"Scenes of celebration from Long Beach’s 17th annual Cambodia Town Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the blast of confetti, they marched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds lined Anaheim Street on Sunday for the 17th Cambodian New Year celebration in Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-day festival in the city\u2019s Cambodia Town neighborhood features food and music, storytelling, kickboxing demonstrations and other activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday morning, about 70 groups marched in a parade that began near the Anaheim Street entrance of MacArthur Park and ended at Long Beach City College\u2019s campus on Pacific Coast Highway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Four dancers in traditional Khmer garb perform for the audience before the start of the parade on Sunday, April 6, 2025. Photo by John Donegan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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About 70 groups took part in the parade that marched for more than a mile from Anaheim Street, north to Long Beach City College. Photo by John Denegan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The morning began with an interfaith benediction and included speeches from local dignitaries such as Councilmembers Suely Saro and Megan Kerr, as well as Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cambodia New Year starts April 14 \u2014 marking the end of the harvest season. Sunday\u2019s event commemorated its arrival as the Year of the Snake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Organizers also spoke of the bloody Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia and the resiliency of those refugees who fled to the United States. An estimated<\/a> 20,000 Cambodians live in Long Beach, the largest concentration outside that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dancers, swathed in brilliant white and blue silks, performed the traditional \u201cblessing dance\u201d that marks the opening of Cambodian celebrations. Following their finish, performers blasted confetti overhead and the parade commenced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
One group performs a traditional Khmer dance with fans for onlookers at the parade Sunday, April 6, 2025. Photo by John Donegan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Several young women in traditional Khmer Sampot Phamuong dresses wave to the passing crowds from a float carrying them north to Long Beach City College. Photo by John Donegan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marching west on Anaheim Street, girls twirled parasols as adults in authentic Khmer attire waved both Cambodian and U.S. flags. On colorful floats, children waved, women sang karaoke and a drum troupe broke out in Khmer song. One group of kickboxers in traditional shorts demonstrated labokator, an age-old martial art that doubles as a performative dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parade continued north to the college\u2019s nearby campus where a festival continues through 6 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
During the Cambodia Town Parade on Sunday, April 6, 2025, Councilmember Suely Saro, center, stands with her daughter during a moment of silence for those killed by the recent earthquake in Myanmar and Bangkok. Photo by John Donegan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the festival and Long Beach\u2019s Cambodia Town, visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anaheim Street and LBCC were alive with unity and pride under the festival and parade’s theme this year: \u201cWe Are Stronger When We Celebrate Together.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":85393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[115,786],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32335],"class_list":["post-85388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-cambodia-town","tag-cambodia-town-culture-festival","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85388"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85404,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85388\/revisions\/85404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85388"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=85388"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=85388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}