Manchester’s legendary Dragon Parade returns next month to celebrate Chinese New Year 2026

Manchester’s legendary Dragon Parade will make its way through the city centre once again next month.

As Manchester gets ready to celebrate Chinese New Year 2026 – which officially begins on Tuesday 17 February and runs through to Tuesday 3 March – and mark the ‘Year of the Horse’, the iconic Dragon Parade will be making its grand return to the streets of our city centre, and bringing a spectacular show of colour and light along with it.

In case you’re unfamiliar with what the Dragon Parade is all about, it’s the focal point of the city’s annual Lunar New Year celebrations – and it’s a real spectacle, to say the least.

The parade is known for attracting thousands of visitors from all across the region each year.

Celebrations officially kick off on Saturday 14 February this year, and as the headline of the festivities, the popular parade is set to take place the day after (Sunday 15 February).

Once again, organisers are expecting visitors in their thousands to turn out and watch as the famous 175ft Chinese dragon weaves its way through the city’s main shopping streets.

Official timings and plans for the parade are yet to be announced by the Council, but if previous years are anything to go by, it’ll likely kick off from around midday, starting on the junction of Oxford Street and George Street, and then make its way along Portland Street before concluding in Chinatown for a final performance on Princess Street.

There’ll also be even more cultural celebrations and activities to get involved with throughout Lunar New Year over in Manchester’s popular Chinatown – with live stage performances, traditional lion and dragon dances, and loads of stalls serving up tasty and authentic street food.

And to top it all off, we’ll also soon see the return of Manchester’s famous traditional red lanterns dotted up above all around town too, adding colour to dark winter days.

Read more:

• Brand-new market brings ‘a new lease of life to Chinatown’ in Manchester
• Manchester’s ‘super duper’ family festival full of FREE activities is back next month
• Salford is celebrating 100 years of being its own city with FREE community events throughout 2026

As always, this year’s celebrations have been organised by the Federation of Chinese Associations of Manchester (FCAM), in partnership with Manchester Business Improvement District (BID) and Manchester City Council.

Featured Image – Chinese NY Manchester (via X) / CityCo