The Westford Academy Asian Culture Club hosted its fourth annual Lunar New Year celebration at WA in collaboration with the Chelmsford Chinese Language School on Saturday, Feb. 28, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. The celebration consisted of three main parts: dinner being served in the cafeteria, vendors and games in the main gym, and a series of cultural performances in the Performing Arts Center (PAC).
For the volunteers, the day started as early as 9:00 a.m., when they helped set up decorations, arrange the cafeteria, and get the PAC ready, and by 7:00 p.m. it came time for the show to begin. The 2026 WA Lunar New Year celebration had 15 total acts ranging from musical pieces performed by the Boston Silk and Bamboo Chamber Ensemble to a dance performed by WA’s own Mandarin III class to the tune of Chopstick Brothers’ “Little Apple”.
The 2026 WA Lunar New Year celebration had 18 sponsors, but not all contributed simply by giving money to the WA Asian Culture Club. Sichuan Palace sponsored the event by providing catering and other sponsors supported the event by providing a raffle prize, the highest valued of which having been worth $1,400.
Sponsors were sorted into three tiers: gold with a donation of $800 or more, silver with a donation of $500 or more, and bronze with a donation of $300 or more. The more a sponsor donated, the more they were advertised throughout the event by signs on walls and stands.
One sponsor who has been attending the Lunar New Year celebration for all four years is Massachusetts state representative and WA alumni James Arciero.
“I’ve been to every Lunar New Year since Westford [started] doing it,” Arciero said. “I’ve always been a dedicated community member coming to the area, and it’s a wonderful experience to see all the young people that are involved to put this Lunar New Year event together and make it a success. It’s something that I look forward to every year. I bring my family and we enjoy the food, the culture, and get to see a lot of great people that are contributing to our community.”
According to Asian Culture Club vice president Harsheta Krishnakumar, the Lunar New Year celebration is an important way of representing Asian culture and tradition at WA.
“I got to learn a lot about [my friends’] culture, and it was really interesting,” Krishnakumar said. “It was a great learning opportunity, I also experienced a lot of their traditions, and it was really fun. I think it’s really important for them to be able to celebrate and have a day off. I think culture is a really big part of our school right now, and it’s important that they’re shown respect and diversity in our school.”
