A dragon ball

10 lively Lunar New Year events to toast the Year of the Dragon in Houston

Radiant Nature Lantern Festival Tunnel Dragon Houston Botanic Garden

Radiant Nature's Lantern Festival tunnel at Houston Botanic Garden.

Photo courtesy of Houston First Corporation

The Lunar New Year officially starts on Saturday, February 10, ushering in the Year of the Dragon. Also known as Chinese New Year, the celebration marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Southeast Asians honor the occasion around the globe, and especially here in Houston, which boasts a vibrant community.

With that in mind, we've rounded up a list of vibrant, energetic celebrations and events all over the city,

Houston Botanic Gardens
(through February 25)
1 Botanic Ln.

The Houston Botanic Gardens dazzles with Radiant Nature, a dazzling and stunning immersive exhibition that takes inspiration from the Lunar New Year and showcasing many Chinese-inspired works. Produced by Tianyu Arts & Culture, more than 50 paper lanterns light up the collection across the garden, making it a breathtaking sight at night. Make sure to visit the Chinese pagoda and the enormous, 200-foot dragon.

Downtown
(Friday, February 9 through Sunday, February 11)
Various venues

Locals could hole up in a downtown hotel all weekend and never run out of things to do for Lunar New Year. Once downtown, check out a series of Lunar New Year celebrations to celebrate in the Year of the Dragon all weekend.

Lee's Golden Dragon's popular drummers will perform at downtown's Lunar New Year Festival + Night Market.Photo by Lee's Golden Dragon/courtesy of Downtown Houston

A big event awaits on Saturday, as Downtown Houston+ presents the Lunar New Year Festival & Night Market at Market Square Park. Free to the public, the event boasts a dynamic lineup, featuring live performances by the popular Lee’s Golden Dragon, We8 Dance Troop, and Unity Lion Dance. Along with dazzling performances, visitors can explore a night market with more than 30 local street food and art vendors. Don't miss an after party scheduled at Bravery Chef Hall.

Be sure to register at the Eventbrite page here to receive a commemorative 2024 red envelope filled with treats and trinkets from the neighborhood, while supplies last.

Lunar New Year Festival + Night Market dragon dancers The Lee's Golden Dragon dragon dancers at the Lunar New Year Festival.Photo by Lee's Golden Dragon/courtesy of Downtown Houston

Lunar New Year Food Festival at Conservatory Food Hall
(2 pm Saturday, February 10; 2 pm Sunday, February 11)
606 Dennis St.

Midtown’s Conservatory Food Hall is a groundbreaking collective of food artists that helps promote small businesses and sustainable food in Houston. Over two days, the chefs under their roof will be presenting a variety of dishes meant to highlight the wide cultural traditions across Asia. The hall will be filled with delicious smells from 15 different eateries and the music of DJ Traxion.

Phat Eatery
(7 pm Friday, February 9; 11:30 am Saturday, February 10; 11:30 am Sunday, February 11)
23119 Colonial Pkwy Suite B-2, Katy

Ushering in the New Year deserves a feast, and Phat Eatery in Katy has a special one prepared. The specialty family-style menu includes Yu Sheng “Prosperity Toss” (House-cured Scottish salmon, pickled carrot and cabbage, radish, sesame seed, plum sauce, cracker, sesame oil); smoked duck wrap (Roasted, house-smoked duck, Persian cucumber, scallion, roti wrap, cumin pineapple hoisin reduction); seared sea scallops; short ribs, and black sesame ice cream from HTX Nitro Creamery. Lion dancers will also be on hand.

Asia Society of Texas
(11 am to 4 pm, Saturday, February 10)
1370 Southmore Blvd.

Lunar New Year at Asia Society of Texas.Photo courtesy of Asia Society of Texas

As a local hallmark of all things Asian culture, Asia Society of Texas has an extensive itinerary planned to celebrate the Lunar New Year. In addition to the traditional dances, food, and crafts, they’re offering something called a Dragon Quest. Community organizers will take visitors on an educational journey across China, Vietnam, South Korea, and the Philippines learning about the history of various cultures through activities.

Lunar New Year dance performances at Asia Society of Texas.Photo courtesy of Asia Society of Texas

Visitors who complete the quest will receive a prize. Puppet making and good luck banners are some of the other crafts that will be on hand to try out.

Lunar New Year at the Chinese Community Center
(10 am to 4 pm Saturday, February 10)
9800 Town Park Dr. in Westchase

The annual event at the CCC has been going on for more than 20 years. Not only does it host the dragon and tiger dances that are so iconic to the Lunar New Year, the festival features traditional Asian crafts, arts, food, and other vendors. Learn Chinese calligraphy, origami, and more. It’s basically a miniature convention. Best of all, the event is totally free, including parking.

Children’s Museum of Houston
(11 am to 6 pm Saturday, February 10)
1500 Binz St.

To keep Lunar New Year completely kid-centric, the Children’s Museum has a wide range of activities for the day. Over in Junktion, visitors can make puppets and banners as well as moving dragon’s breath. The Houston Grand Opera will present an interactive storybook, and various dance troupes will perform. Kids will have a chance to take photos with some of the elaborate and colorful dancer costumes.

Lunar New Year children's museum houston Lunar New Year performances at Children’s Museum Houstton.Photo courtesy of Children’s Museum

Otaku Food Festival at Karbach Brewing Co.
(Noon to 10 pm Saturday, February 10; noon to 4 pm Sunday Feb. 11)
2023 Karbach St.

If you’re looking to celebrate the Lunar New Year with an anime twist, this is the festival for you. This free event is hosted across two days and contains more than 100 vendors. A number of them will be selling statues, DVDs, manga, and other anime culture items. There will also be a sumo competition. Food is the focus, everything from Asian street foods to baos and boba tea. Organizers encourage visitors to bring cash.

Lunar New Year at Discovery Green
(5 pm to 7 pm Sunday, February 11)
1500 McKinney St.

Lunar New Year at Discovery Green.Photo courtesy of Discovery Green

One of Houston’s most famous dragon dance teams will take the Anheuser-Busch Stage at Discovery Green. Since 1974, Lee’s Golden Dragon has captivated audiences across the south with their elaborate costumes and incredible drum corps. Discovery Green will also have local vendors of Asian food and crafts.

Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 doesn't match the first movie's enthusiasm

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films like M3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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