Dance troupe celebrates Lunar New Year at Suburban Square

ARDMORE, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Lunar New Year Celebration took over Suburban Square on Saturday, delighting unsuspecting shoppers and those who came specifically for the performance.

The Philadelphia Suns Lion Dance Troupe put on the show, which started at Ardmore Farmer's Market where organizer Jimmy Lee has a food stand called Aziatisch.

"There's a lot of Asian community that live in the Main Line area or the suburbs," he explained.

While he served authentic Chinese food from the stand, he also helped serve up the performance, which included lion dancing, drumming and music.

"Seeing all the little kids chase them and go around and grab them, it was really, really cute and I haven't seen this in years," said Sabrina Lai, Lee's niece.

More often than not, families like the Lee's say they would have to go into the city, to Chinatown, for any sort of cultural celebration. That's one of the reasons they wanted to bring this New Year's to the suburbs.

"This year with the Year of the Rabbit, we thought it was especially important because we're finally returning to normal and it's a year of hope and peace. It's actually the luckiest sign of the Chinese zodiac," said Alicia Lupold, regional vice president for Kimco Realty Corporation.

On this Year of the Rabbit, organizers have a goal to bring more cultural events to Ardmore.

"There was excitement, pleasure. I had a customer who came up and thank me for having it because he has a granddaughter who was adopted from China and it's just that warm feeling of community," said Lupold.