North Quincy High School may not have been a lucky choice of locations for yesterday’s Lunar New Year Festival in Quincy, but it was an appropriate one. The halls, the chairs and the gym floors were already varying shades of red - one of the school’s colors.

Quincy Asian Resources, the festival’s host, decorated the halls with red paper lanterns and red signs bearing Chinese characters. A red arch built in the school’s atrium, topped with a glittery cardboard pig’s head and a dragon made of red and yellow balloons, served as the backdrop for photos of the performance groups.

About 4,000 people came to the festival to celebrate the Year of the Pig, which officially began Feb. 18. They wandered the halls, stopping to eat, play games and watch dance and musical performances by local Asian-American groups.

‘‘All the venues were very busy and very well-attended this year,’’ said John Brothers, the executive director of Quincy Asian Resources. Last year, the gym, where the performances are held, drew the most people, while the other areas were much less popular, Brothers said.

The performance groups sang, danced and demonstrated martial arts in the gym, where tables were set up for advocacy groups, city services, churches and local businesses.

A game-of-chance wheel at the Mohegan Sun table drew dozens of people. Mohegan Sun and Sunshine Travel, which runs several daily bus trips to the Connecticut casino, were the festival’s two main sponsors.

By 2 p.m., plastic-foam containers littered the cafeteria tables - surrounded by red chairs - as festival-goers feasted on sushi, curry and spring rolls. Children tossed beanbags and made pig masks out of paper plates in the kids’ corner, and the nearby cotton candy machine drew long lines.

A girl wearing a Snow White dress waited for her turn at Dance Dance Revolution, a video game that was set up in one nook. Children and teens battled all afternoon on the four mats taped to the floor, hoping for the high score.

Upstairs, several children and their parents sat cross-legged in the library to hear stories about ‘‘the monkey king.’’ Two storytellers - one speaking in Chinese and the other in English - described the simian monarch’s adventures, while a man dressed as the king himself sat on the floor with the children.

The storytelling, a new feature at the festival, was sponsored by RISE, or Reading Is So Exciting, at South Shore Day Care and South Shore Elder Services, which trained Chinese seniors to tell the stories. Brothers, the Quincy Asian Resources director, said being read to in any language helps children learn to read in English once they begin school.

After hearing the story, the children illustrated blank books with feathers, confetti and marking pencils.

Brothers said about 50 North Quincy High School students and about 100 other people volunteered at the festival.

‘‘The success is a representation of the effort put in by the community,’’ he said.

Rachel Slajda may be reached at rslajda@ledger.com
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
TTransmitted Monday, February 26, 2007
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/02/26/news/news07.txt