Annual Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul marched in the annual Chinatown Lunar New Year parade in New York City.

B-ROLL of the Governor marching in the parade is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Xin nian kuai le! I got it right, didn't I?  I could not be proud to be standing right here, right now in the heart of the Asian community — Chinatown USA. To all of our visitors who came around the world to celebrate this, we welcome all of you. But to those who call this place your home and are feeling under attack right now and worried about immigration enforcement, know that we are on your side. We are going to do everything we can to protect you and try to shut that down because this is your home. You have helped us make this such an enriched, diverse, fascinating place and we don't want to lose one fiber of that.

And yes, I was so proud to bring out my pen and sign the bill presented by Grace Lee and Brian Kavanaugh to make Lunar New Year, the first place in the country to celebrate and give the children a day off school. Snow day or not, no school, Mr. Mayor. So to our mayor, to all of our elected leaders, I want to join all of you and celebrate. Let's get this parade started.