Thousands convened at Market and 2nd Streets Saturday where the SF festivities began to celebrate the Year of the Rat — hissing firecrackers, lanky dragons, chromatic fashions, and all — in the largest Lunar New Year parade outside of Asia.

Despite scares over the Wuhan coronavirus, which many Chinatown business owners believe is responsible for the decrease in neighborhood foot traffic, crowds still abounded at SF's Chinese New Year Parade Saturday. Southwest Airlines sponsored this year's event, an annual celebration that, per previous aggregated estimates, might've been watched, either street-side or via live streams, by some three million people.

As well-known as our city’s Chinese New Year Parade is, the expansive crowds did include some first-time attendees.

“My wife is in the parade, she’s one of the rats holding up the sign and my daughter and son are in the parade too, it’s awesome, they’re six and three,” Winston Wang said to KRON4. “[This is their first-time experiencing] the parade, [and] it’s also a first time for me too, so it’s really exciting to be here.”

Take a march down memory lane to relive yesterday's jubilant, pyrotechnic party, courtesy of these tweets.

This marks the 162nd outing for San Francisco's iconic Lunar New Year Parade, which has a history dating as far back the 1860s.

Related: Elderly Chinatown Residents Targeted For Red Envelopes During Lunar New Year

Photos & Video From San Francisco's 161st Annual Chinese New Year Parade

Image: Flickr via Dawn Endico