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PHOENIX (FOX 10) - This weekend, you can ring in the Chinese New Year at a free, three-day festival in downtown Phoenix.
"If you were never going to come to this and be involved in this, then you would never know how amazing their culture is and how they have so many things that everyone can embrace, so it's really cool to see different people coming together to celebrate one thing," Casey Catalanotto said.
The Phoenix Chinese Culture and Cuisine Festival brings in about 30,000 people every year from all over.
"Every year, we come out here to celebrate the Chinese New Year and we learn about the culture and it's just so interesting and so much fun," Cameron Bautista said.
This year, the festival celebrates its 29th year with hundreds of vendors, food and beer trucks, cultural performances, art and more.
"The food is a huge thing," Catalanotto said. "The ramen and all the special foods that are just so specific to this culture and it's very defining."
Uniting Chinese heritage with education and the community, festival-goers say Phoenix Chinese Week breaks culture barriers, which is another reason that makes our diverse country so great.
"I think the most exciting thing here is all the different kinds of people that are here and they're all here to celebrate one thing and that's Chinese culture and I think that's pretty cool," Brandon Sayler said.
Phoenix Chinese Week
http://www.phoenixchineseweek.org/festival/events_schedule/