Indigenous, Chinese-Canadian communities celebrate Lunar New Year at Club 88 event

Hal Eagletail at the Club 88 event held at the Regency Palace restaurant Friday in Calgary's Chinatown

Chinese New Year celebrations continued in Calgary's Chinatown district Friday night.

Club 88 held its banquet at the Regency Palace restaurant to ring in the Year of the Rabbit.

Guests were treated to a lion dance, and other cultural performances.

Entertainment at Club 88, Feb.4, 2023

The guest speaker, Elder Hal Eagletail, talked about the longstanding relationship between the Indigenous and Chinese communities in southern Alberta, which date all the back to the late 19^th century, when Chinese workers helped build western Canadian railways.

Club 88 is a business networking group that has been around for 40 years.

"We put on functions so everybody – professional or businessman – can come in with their boxes of business cards that we recommend," said Club 88 president Anthony Pann Chapman. "And go co-mingle with each other, introduce themselves to each other and see if there's a common ground to do business."

Club 88 president Anthony Pann Chapman

Organizers say having a new year's celebration like this traditionally brings luck to those who attend.

Guests were treated to a 10-course dinner as they enjoyed the entertainment.