Lions and Dragons in Old Town 

Arts Alive! on Saturday in Eureka had the usual art and music lineup, but Old Town also featured several costumed May the Fourth Star Wars characters and a big crowd at the third annual Eureka Chinatown Street Festival - Year of the Dragon.

The festival on three blocks of E Street in front of the Clarke Historical Museum began at 4 p.m., when lion dancers wandered through businesses on the streets offering the Lion Blessing of Businesses for good luck and prosperity. Attendees began checking out the numerous Asian food vendors, artists' offerings, a kids zone and other activities.

At a 6 p.m. opening ceremony, Sheila Moon (a descendant of Charlie Moon for whom an alley in Eureka's historic Chinatown is named) welcomed the large crowd and introduced the Humboldt Taiko drummers, who quickly had to retreat under a tent to perform as heavy rain arrived. After the rain stopped, most of the crowd stayed for performances by traditional lion and dragon dancers, Humboldt County Lao Dancers, the K-Pop Dance Team from Eureka High School, Humboldt Rockers and Samba da Alegria.

The Eureka Chinatown Project is an initiative by community members and Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) to honor the history and culture of the first Chinese people in Humboldt County, the vast majority of whom were forcibly exiled during Eureka's 1885 expulsion. A current project goal is to build a Eureka Chinatown Monument to be located at the corner of First and E streets.