"East Meet West" Parade Tries To Improve Sales In Little Italy, Chinatown
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Red, white and green parade floats and dragon dancers marched through Little Italy and Chinatown in Manhattan on Saturday during the sixth annual East Meets West parade.
Organizers said the area's economy has struggled since Hurricane Sandy and the holiday celebration was a much needed boost.
"The area has been depressed, honestly, 'til about two weeks ago. They started picking up now," said parade organizer Raffaele Tramontana. "We need something like this, just to bring the spirits back up in the area and bring the customers down here."
"They had to be closed for over a week. So now they're reopened but they now need the customers. So what's the best way to bring the customers down than to celebrate the holidays?" said City Councilwoman Margaret Chin.
The parade's grand marshals included NY1 travel consultant Valarie D'Elia.