I’ve decided in my effort to document my experiences as a market vendor, I’d also like to document my experiences as a market attendee! Much can be learned about an event from either side, and it is my preference to attend an event before applying to it if time allows. And yes, while I have attended Chinatown‘s Markets a couple times, this would be the first Lunar New Year celebration of theirs I’ve visited.
Would I feel FOMO after not applying for a LNY vendor spot? Let’s find out!
I arrived fashionably late around 12 PM, with perhaps the misguided hope that I’d still be early enough to fit into the Chinatown parking lot. Nope. As I drove closer I could already spot at least five cars circling the lot, and knew there was no hope for me. Fortunately, there were yard signs that directed me towards a large overfill lot by one of the neighboring businesses.
Atlanta Chinatown
As one may have expected from the fight for parking, there was a good crowd of people milling about Chinatown. From the hallways, the shops, to the grocery store, it was never empty on my visit.
Within the main entrance were our pop-up food vendors! There was a wide array of sweets, snacks, and drinks, definitely lots to choose from. Just inside the court yard there was also a final pop-up noodle vendor.
Then as we continue into the courtyard we had our local artists, jewelry makers, and toy vendors. There were both dance and music performances on the stage throughout the day. I really appreciated the dancing, it made me think to back to my own teenage days as a folk dancer in St. Louis.
I did find it strange that they put vendor booths right in front of the stage again. It made it difficult to fully view some of the larger group dance routines that took up the whole stage. There were similar table placements for their summer markets sure, but folk dance is a visual medium! And I still disagree with the choice to obscure musicians as well.
Continuing into the hall, we had the rest of our pop-up Chinatown market. The marketing boasted over 50+ vendors were present, and I believe it. A few tables were left empty for the Sonny Angel meetup that happened later in the day. The brick-and-mortar local businesses also had their doors wide open to the crowds. Plenty of traditional Chinese housewares and LNY decor, and even a shop that offered seamstress services with a whole line of traditional Chinese clothing.
I picked up a beautiful, hot pink, cowgirl, Year of the Horse art print from the PaperLoaf Collective!
Lunchtime
After my first walk around, I wanted to take advantage of the relatively uncrowded food court and order lunch! It looks like I may have missed out on the dragon and lion dance nearby at this time, which would definitely explain where everyone was, haha.
First, I had to stop by Season’s Best! I love this cute LNY sticker they made of their mascot. Wintermelon is one of my regular favorite tea flavors so I had to get it. The candied wintermelon pieces were one of my favorite Lunar New Year snacks as a kid.
For lunch, I went with my usual stop, China Kitchen, and ordered their mapo tofu with beef! I did underestimate how much of a family style portion I could finish on my own, so got a to-go cup for half of it ^^;;;
And for dessert, a strawberry matcha tiramisu from Ginkgo Bakery! I’m a sucker for anything with gingko leaf motifs and they just looked so beautiful!
Atlanta Lunar New Year Festival
Now that I’d done a thorough scope of Atlanta Chinatown, it was time to check out the neighboring Atlanta Lunar New Year Festival put on by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. Tucked behind Chinatown from the main road, they had two big outdoor tents set up for pop-up vendors while their main stage was inside their building. It was an 11 dollar entry fee for Saturday and they had a packed schedule of performances from 10:30 til 4PM!
While I missed the lion and dragon dances, I was able to see the Maidens of Ali Mountain put on by TGA. Across from the stage there were also booths for arts and crafts, as well as different local Asian American organizations. The whole vibe made me nostalgic for the LNY celebrations hosted by the St. Louis Modern Chinese Language School and St. Louis Chinese Language School in my youth. Though, I don’t remember either of them opening their events to outside of the schools, so it’s really neat to see how TECO welcomes the whole community.
Bonus! Rebel Tea
I had business on the east side of town, so on my way to my next stop I visited the one and only, Rebel Teahouse in Decatur! I’m a sucker for their pink dinosaur logo branding, and I’ve been craving another one of their fruit hat dino blind boxes since Rebel-versary back in the fall. And to my surprise, they had one of the sad horses that’d gone viral on Chinese social media, right on their counter!
Overall, I had a pretty good Saturday and even ran into a few friends at Chinatown! There was lots to shopping and plenty to see, so I think it’d be a good group event if you’d like a taste of what a LNY celebration can be. It was good to see that with Atlanta Chinatown and TECO working together they were able to pull in big crowds.
I was pretty satisfied with my visit and didn’t really feel FOMO as a vendor. While I don’t know how much either organizer charged for the booths at this event, the current price listed on Chinatown’s website for their upcoming 2026 markets start at $150. Which still feels high for me when it’s a space smaller than 10×10 >w< So perhaps I’ll remain a happy attendee for now.
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