Eden Center New Year 2018
Panasonic HC-X1
Eden Center, a huge Vietnamese shopping center in Falls Church, has an annual multi-day festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The event is a lot of fun with fire crackers, lion dances, dragon dances and a whole lot more. I went out on Sunday and, as I do, took some video of all the fun (above).
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There are 2 things you need to know before coming out to this event. First, the parking lot is a disaster. Try to park in the secret rear parking lot. And 2nd, it is LOUD. The firecrackers will brutalize your ears, so get some earplugs for the kids.
The highlight of the event each year are the Lion Dances, put on by the Hung Vuong Lion Dance Team AND the Doan Lan Nha Vietnam Team. Unfortunately I arrived too late for the Dragon Dances.
As part of the culture, people offer up Li Xi (Lucky Money) to the Lions to bring fortune to the upcoming new year. 2018 is the year of the Dog.
Camera Stuff: About halfway through the shoot, the camera wasn't displaying anything. I thought the fire crackers had somehow broke it, but turns out when you mess with the Iris setting, it can be set to "CLOSE" which, shocker, closes it.
The event also featured balloon animals, a caricature artist, a fortune teller, face painting, a DJ and seemingly unlimited firecrackers. Roll after roll after roll. Children all threw poppers on the ground and the adults were really going wild with the fire cracker display.
I've been to Eden Center for Tet and Lunar New Year several times and I always enjoy myself. Maybe I'll see you out there next year!
If you have any questions about Eden Center, Falls Church, the Panasonic HC-X1 or how I shot and edited this video, please leave a comment. You can also email Chris, or hire Fire Toga by sending an email to firetoga@gmail.com. Scroll all the way down to follow us on social media to find out what is happening in the DC Metro Area. See you out there!