If the New Year isn’t going as planned, or your NYE was a letdown, here’s your chance for a redo. Happy (Lunar) New Year!
Formerly called the Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year marks the start of spring and the lunisolar calendar year. It’s China’s biggest holiday and is also widely celebrated in South Korea, Vietnam, and here, starting Tue, Feb 17. It marks the shift from the Year of the Wood Snake (2025) to the Year of the Fire Horse (2026).
Family reunions focus on a New Year’s Eve dinner with fish and dumplings for abundance and wealth. Homes are cleaned to sweep away bad luck, elders give red envelopes of money for good fortune, and festivities feature colorful lion and dragon dances, parades, and firecrackers to scare off the legendary beast Nian.
The area’s earliest celebration is 11am-7:30pm Sat, Jan 24, and 11am-5:30pm Sun, Jan 25, as the Otaku Food Festival takes over Golden Triangle Mall (2201 S I-35, Denton). This free all-ages event has anime vendors, voice actors, cosplay contests, cultural demonstrations, karaoke, K-Pop performances, photo ops, and more than 100 food and beverage vendors.
The Kimbell Art Museum (3333 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, 817-332-8451) will celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse at a happy hour 5pm-7pm Fri, Feb 6. This event is co-hosted by the Kimbell and Fort Worth Sister Cities International, a nonprofit that promotes Fort Worth by fostering global connections through education, the arts, culture, economic development, and humanitarian assistance in sister cities such as Guiyang, China, where the Lunar New Year is celebrated annually. Highlights include traditional Chinese music by the Dallas Guzheng Association, Lunar New Year artmaking, and an Asian-themed art scavenger hunt. This event is free and open to the public. Kimbell happy hour refreshments will be available for purchase.
Courtesy Aqua Management
Asia Times Square (2625 W Pioneer Pkwy, Ste 120, Grand Prairie, 972-975-5100) is one of the largest Asian markets in Texas. Its 19th Annual Lunar New Year Celebration takes place the first three weekends of February. The Opening Banquet is 5:30pm-9pm on Fri, Feb 6, at The Pagoda, the center’s on-site venue. Tickets are $60 on Eventbrite.com, with proceeds going to charity. All other festival events are free Fri-Sun, Feb 6-8 and 13-15, and Sat-Sun, Feb 21-22. (Friday festivities run from 4pm to 10pm, while Saturdays and Sundays go from 11am to 11pm.) Activities include Asian street food for sale, cultural performances, live music, and merchandise vendors during the first two weekends. The festival concludes Sat-Sun, Feb 21-22, with firecracker shows and lion dances by the Jiu Long and Phap Quang Lion Dance Troupes (no vendors these days). For more info, visit AsiaTimesSquare.com/LunarNewYear2026.
Speaking of horses, don’t forget that the new documentary Horse Power is screening at the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History (1600 Gendy St, Fort Worth, 817-255-9300) at the Jane & John Justin Foundation Omni Theater hourly daily thru Wed, Feb 18. This film explores the extraordinary abilities of horses and their profound bond with humanity through a series of shorter stories from around the world, including the tale of an 8-year-old girl being trained by her father to compete in an 18-kilometer endurance race on the grasslands of Mongolia with her horse. The version screening here is a 42-minute short documentary produced specifically for IMAX-type theaters, but look for the feature-length version for streaming in the near future. Tickets are $15 and include admission to the museum’s general exhibits.
Courtesy SK Films
