Chinese New Year Parade Sf: Eileen Gu Returns Home to Lead San Francisco’s Saturday Celebration
chinese new year parade sf is set to roll through San Francisco on Saturday, with Olympic gold medalist and freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu stepping in as grand marshal. Gu, 22, called the honor deeply personal, tied to the city where she was born and raised and to memories of watching the parade as a child. The event is expected to draw a huge turnout as crews push through final preparations ahead of a Friday deadline.
Chinese New Year Parade Sf: Grand marshal Eileen Gu calls it a homecoming
Gu described the parade’s impact in sensory detail after years of experiencing it from the sidewalk. “I’m so excited. The San Francisco Chinese New Year parade is, like, none other, ” Gu said in an interview conducted in the Mission District with Kristen Sze, anchor at ABC7 San Francisco. She said the city’s awareness of the moment is unmistakable: “the sound, the cheering, the sights, the smells, the brightness, it’s really unparalleled. ”
Gu said the grand marshal role feels different from her other public appearances. “This is a special thing to be Grand Marshal, and be part of it, ” she said.
One duty, however, brought a candid admission of nerves: lighting ceremonial firecrackers. “A little bit? Um, I’m sure there are safety precautions that I’m going to get briefed on, ” Gu said. “But yeah, first time handling explosives, I will say. ”
Gu’s connection to San Francisco was central to how she framed the moment. She attended Katherine Delmar Burke School for K-8 and then San Francisco University High School, where she ran cross country and track, played basketball, and said she fell in love with the city’s trails and coastline. “San Francisco is such a special city, and I will not shut up about it to anybody who will listen, ” Gu said.
Float crews race to finish Year of the Horse designs before Friday deadline
Behind the scenes, artists at The Parade Guys are working toward a Friday deadline to finish the parade’s elaborate floats and sculptures. Stephanie Mufson, owner of The Parade Guys, said the shop is in “the final crunch moments” and described the scale of the effort: “We have 16 floats this year. ” She added that parade-goers will see “maybe hundreds of pounds of glitter” in the final designs.
The Year of the Horse theme has created technical challenges for the team’s sculptures, including rearing horse figures. Mufson pointed to the complexity for lead sculptor Lacey Bryant, describing “the difficulty of making all of these guys stand on their hind legs, ” calling it “a feat of gravity and really playing with physics. ”
Shop manager Christian Barraza underscored the precision required in the build. “I carved 12 pairs of legs for the inside of the horse, and each one of them had a different consistency because they’re different kinds of horses and each horse has different musculature, ” Barraza said. “It was a little insane. ”
Artist Derrick Shavers, speaking Tuesday, summed up the finishing work in plain terms. “I’m just the painter guy. I make things look beautiful. I do pretty blends and blend colors and make things look sparkly, ” Shavers said.
How to watch and what happens next as Saturday approaches
San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade is scheduled to begin at around 5: 00 p. m. ET on Saturday, with a live look planned from 3rd and Market streets in San Francisco. The parade is set to feature marching bands, cultural performances, and a stream of elaborate floats.
Quick context: Gu said Chinese New Year has long been central to her family life, especially time spent cooking with her mother and grandmother in San Francisco. She recalled making dumplings together and said her grandmother’s spirit continues to guide her, even after her grandmother died while Gu was competing at the Olympics.
What’s next: With the parade hours away, final float work continues under deadline pressure while officials finalize safety preparations for the anticipated crowds. By Saturday evening, the spotlight will turn fully to the route itself—where chinese new year parade sf will unfold with Gu leading the celebration as grand marshal.
