Attendance, parade entries down for 133rd Bok Kai Festival

It's agreed: Weather at the Bok Kai Parade was perfect, there were no major problems and a good time was had by all.

Organizers of the 133rd Bok Kai Festival said on Monday that attendance was down somewhat this year because of Little League openings in Marysville and Yuba City.

Organizers, however, have received positive feedback, and co-chairwoman Shaunee Burrows-Kang said nothing was posted to the event's Facebook page that would reflect a complaint.

Parade entries were down from last year's 86 to 58 entries this year. Vendors were down only one from 2012.

New this year was a partnership with Habitat for Humanity, with the organization opening its parking lot and letting parade-goers park for $5.

"We didn't hear any complaints about that at all. People were receptive to charged parking," Burrows-Kang said. "It was worth it, definitely."

Bomb Day attendance was very good this year, she said. Festival co-chairwoman Candice Young Fresquez said people running the pyrotechnics also ordered special firecrackers from China this year.

"It was like a hot-pink paper mixed in red. It was pretty," Fresquez said.

Marysville police Sgt. Chris Sachs said the parade went very smoothly, with only a couple of incidents. There was a medical call for someone feeling ill and a man who was "extremely intoxicated" was escorted out of the area.

Yuba County Supervisor John Nicoletti gave a handful of tours through the Bok Kai Temple, the Chinese American Museum of Northern California and the Hop Sing meeting place. Among the tourists were lifelong Yuba City residents who had never been to the Bok Kai Parade before, he said.

"There's a lot of folks I know as regular parade-goer. I also saw a lot of new faces," Nicoletti said.

Ron Haedicke, former Marysville mayor and a longtime Bok Kai supporter, said he really enjoyed co-emceeing with Heather Young, who was the hostess in 2007.

CONTACT Laura van der Meer at lvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4771. Find her on Facebook at /ADlvandermeer or on Twitter at @ADlvandermeer.