The Kong Celebrates Chinese New Year

Although the red Chinese lanterns decorating Harvard Square had been destroyed by last week’s high winds and torrential rains, Mass Ave. was alive with firecrackers, drums, and lion dancers during the Hong Kong restaurant’s Chinese New Year’s celebration yesterday.

After watching lion dancers on the street, the attendees—mainly composed of families with young children—headed into the Kong for an open house event featuring arts-and-crafts on the second floor and entertainment, including a puppet show and dancing, on the third.

The event marked the Kong’s fourth annual New Year’s celebration, the first of which began as a collaboration between the Lee family—who own the Kong—and the Harvard Square Business Association.

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of HSBA, called the Kong “iconic,” and said that the New Year’s celebration sought to recognize the Lee family and to “honor and memorialize the great diversity that is Harvard Square.”

Although the celebration took place two weeks after the actual holiday, it drew several hundred families, Jillson estimated.

The delay was due to the event’s most popular attraction—the lion troupe, according to Paul Lee, son of the restaurant’s founders and the current manager.

“Imagine if you had Christmas, and everyone wanted to celebrate on Christmas, and everyone had to schedule a lion troupe,” Lee said.

He added that many families choose to make the actual holiday a more intimate, family celebration, though New Year’s revelry can extend well into March.

For Kari D. White, who brought her three young girls to the event, the open house was truly a family event. White, who worked at the Kong as a waitress, bartender, and manager from 1995 to 2000, is testament to what most Harvard students say can’t be done: she found true love at the Kong.

White met her husband, Sean, at the Kong while they were both employees at the restaurant.

Whether it’s a place to find love or to have a fun Friday night, Kong founder Buoy Lee is proud of the success the the Kong has had in Harvard Square.

In the spirit of Chinese New Year’s, Lee said, “We are lucky. We are very lucky.”

—Staff writer Michelle B. Timmerman can be reached at mtimmerman@college.harvard.edu.