Behind the scenes look at Chinese New Year Parade floats

A team of artists has worked for months to make the parade pop with color and come alive. Stephanie Mufson and her team pour their hearts into every detail of every float. KTVU's Christien Kafton got a look inside the creative workshop.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Chinese New Year parade is one of the most spectacular in the world, in large part because of the creative floats that wind their way through the city.

KTVU got a behind the scenes look at all the hard work that goes into taking those floats from an idea to reality.

Behind the doors of an otherwise nondescript pier on the San Francisco Bay a team of artists worked for months to make the parade pop with color and come alive.

Truck loads of lumber, hundreds of yards of LED lights, and a quarter ton of glitter are just some of the elements that go into creating the floats for San Francisco's Chinese New Year Parade.

Stephanie Mufson and her team of artists pour their hearts and souls into every detail of every float. First coming up with the concept for the float with the sponsor.

"I get inspired by their own messaging," said Mufson. "Their own color schemes that they're working with, and I really let that be a jumping off point where I can then run with my imagination of how can I integrate the theme of that year's zodiac plus this particular messaging that's important to this particular sponsor."

San Francisco's Chinese New Year Parade has unique American history

In its long history in the Bay Area, the Chinese New Year Parade has been a place for tradition, for celebration and family. The parade for decades has attracted large crowds, going back to 1953, the first year it was open to the public.

Once the concept has been set, the hard work begins as Munson and her team work to bring that vision to life. Sticking to the plan, but carving out enough space for creativity.

"Definitely there will be moments of ‘Oh, if we light it like this it looks beautiful. Oh, if we add a little bit of extra glitter on this, or we can play around with the way something is composed so that it really sings,’" said Mufson.

Mufson says the tiger and all that it embodies, strength, courage and determination are a fitting symbol for the return of the parade.

"A bit conversation that we had with all of the sponsors at the beginning of the design process was really activating the tiger in a way that really presented strength and perseverance and courage," said Mufson.

The parade for the Year of the Ox was one of the casualties of the pandemic, canceled in 2021 when the idea of bringing together thousands of people was unthinkable. That meant the Mufson and her team of artists here were sidelined.

"Yeah it's been a hard couple of years for the parade world," said Mufson. "For sure. You know Chinese New Year was amazing in coming up with the public art project. We were really grateful to them for having the imagination to come up with ideas outside the box and come up with new ways to celebrate."

Instead of the parade, some artists worked on creating parade statues around the city to ring in last Lunar New Year. The idea repeated with the parade of tiger statues created with local artists this year.

Mufson says art and joy are the medicine everyone needs after two years of the pandemic.

"I think anyone that is interested in seeing that continue to exist in the world anywhere where they can put their money, their time, their energy into helping artists continue to do what they do whether it's us or any creative in the Bay Area."

Florence Korkames, one of the artists and she says working together again, collaborating, and creating is important for everyone in this room, but that it's also important for the community to come together and celebrate.

"Everyone has their own person battles in life. So, to be able to come back and be together as a team and make these floats together," said Korkames. "I mean, yeah, it's healing. It is absolutely healing."

All of this hard work culminating with the big reveal the day of the parade. Mufson says even then the work is not over, as she and her team of artists escort the floats along the route. There is a time though, in the moments before the parade actually begins, with the crowds arriving, the music building the fireworks going off, that is the moment she treasures.

"Everything gets louder and busier," said Mufson. "That's the moment for me, when you walk down, and you see all the floats, and you feel the energy rising. That's always my favorite part."

Everywhere you look in the workshop there are sculptures from years, past. Pigs, rats, horses and dragons.

So KTVU asked if that means they're already looking forward to next year's floats. The artists say they're so focused on this parade, they can't even think beyond the end of the month.

The Chinese New Year Parade is Saturday, Feb. 19 in San Francisco and KTVU will broadcast the event on Saturday, Feb. 26 from 6-8 p.n. Watch it on TV or on KTVU.com.

More stories and videos about the parade and Lunar New Year are here.