For nearly 75 years, the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce has organized the annual Chinese New Year Parade, one of the largest in the U.S., routinely drawing hundreds of thousands — and sometimes far more.
That tradition may be coming to an end.
While the parade will march on — that is not in doubt, sources tell The San Francisco Standard — city officials are considering finding a new entity to accept San Francisco’s sizable parade grant — nearly $500,000 annually — following allegations that the chamber’s board members sexually harassed and assaulted a woman staffer for years.
Mayor Daniel Lurie exclusively told The Standard, and its reporting partner the San Francisco Public Press, that the allegations are prompting the city to evaluate whether the chamber should receive funding for the parade, or what entity could step up in its place.
“I want the parade to happen. I want to celebrate our [Asian American and Pacific Islander] and Chinese communities,” Lurie said. “Any entity that gets city funding, we’ll look into. Whether it’s through them or through another entity, we will have a New Year’s Parade.”
“But whether it’s them or not,” Lurie said, referring to the chamber, “we’ll see.”
Meanwhile, the city will audit the chamber’s spending of taxpayer dollars.
San Francisco isn’t the only donor whose money helps the chamber make the Chinese New Year Parade possible: Alaska Airlines, which owns Hawaiian Airlines, told The Standard it’s committed to the parade, no matter who runs it.
“We expect the organizations we support to reflect the values that are important to us, and we consider that when evaluating our sponsorships,” a spokesperson said. “Alaska Airlines sponsors the Chinese New Year Festival and Parade, not the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce or individual members of the chamber. We’re aware of the reports and allegations and are taking them seriously. We do not condone the alleged behavior and are looking into the matter.”
The allegations made public in a September wrongful-termination lawsuit rocked the institution, which is more than a century old. Judy Lee, who was a staffer of the chamber before she was terminated in late July, alleged that board members coerced her and other former Miss Chinatown pageant contestants to drink heavily, repeatedly attempted to kiss her, brushed against her breasts, and groped her in other ways in various instances over the span of a decade.
Her lawsuit also claimed that an unnamed board member broke into her hotel room and violently sexually assaulted her during a work trip in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Asked about Lurie’s statement and the grant condition, the chamber deferred to the city, noting that “we will need to defer to the Mayor and the Council on what they may or may not have been trying to signal. It’s not our place to speak for them”
In the same statement to the Public Press, the chamber wrote that the preparations for the 2027 parade are “moving forward in full force,” and that it will provide a financial audit report. On the allegations, it “takes all allegations seriously,” will defer to legal professionals, and “look forward to defending our case in court.”
In an email to chamber officials sent Tuesday, obtained by The Standard, Kristen Jacobson, director of the city department Grants for the Arts, said the San Francisco city controller’s office would audit the group. But for now, the city is moving ahead with its plans to fund the chamber’s parade. Grants for the Arts sent an “intent to award” letter Tuesday, informing the chamber that it was selected for a $470,000 grant through 2027, subject to negotiation of final terms. Sources familiar with the matter said the agency could not halt its two-year funding commitment without findings of criminal misconduct.
San Francisco can conduct such an audit because it subsidizes the parade in a number of ways: through the annual funding award from Grants for the Arts, fee waivers for permits from the city’s transit, fire and entertainment departments, and through donations of in-kind services, like street cleaning and police staffing.
Some in Chinatown may bristle against a government institution tipping the scales into who hosts a cultural event — particularly one so vital to Chinese San Francisco’s economic fortunes. City officials have estimated that roughly one-third of Chinatown’s revenue comes from the parade and associated festivals.
The parade as we know it today began with the SF Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
“We’ve always had parades in there, but we never invited the public,” said David Lei, a board member of the Chinese Historical Society of America. That changed in 1953, when the chamber’s leaders decided to open it up to the whole city.
What started as a small community celebration grew in the 1980s, when the chamber brought it to television and secured sponsorships to build better floats, turning it into what is now one of the largest Lunar New Year parades outside of Asia.
The San Francisco Standard and the San Francisco Public Press are reporting together and co-publishing stories on the Chinese community.
