Today marks the second day of the Chinese New Year, and celebrations are happening all weekend long at resorts across town.
Drums, chimes, and a dancing lion took over the Harrah’s casino earlier today, as the Chinese New Year hits Reno! The famous San Francisco dance company White Crane performed in front of crowds both outside and inside the Harrah’s Casino.
“Two separate lions will be dancing around the property celebrating the New Year and blessing the property and everybody around to have a very lucky new year," said Nickolas Breaux-Fujita, the Regional Vice President of Marketing for Caesar’s Entertainment.
Having a lion grace your presence is said to bring you luck for the rest of the year, and it is also believed to scare away evil spirits. This is also a way to say goodbye to last year, the year of the rooster, and hello to the year of the dog!
The dance started outside on Virginia Street, to bless downtown Reno; they then danced through the casino to the front desk and finishing off at the sports book.
At each of these stops, the head of each department would come out and feed the lion lettuce, and then would wait to see if the lion would shower them with lettuce leaves.
“The lettuce symbolizes money, so as you just saw, the lion spreads wealth," said John Lee with the White Crane Dance Group.
Whether or not you believe in such things, you can still head down and enjoy an amazing show, and from all of us here at channel 2, we hope this year of the dog isn't too ruff!
