Aurelio Mattucci and Mike Griffiths.

Monterey Park Mayor Jose Sanchez said.but also by sharing their stories and memorializing them.

A young visitor attaches a message of hope onto a wishing tree at Monterey Parks Lunar New Year Festival on Saturday.We can honor those that we have lost not just by dancing.shot himself the following day after being surrounded by police in Torrance.

souvenir and community service vendors.The celebration comes just over a year after the devastating mass shooting – just hours after the 2023 festival – in which 11 people were slain at the Star Dance Club Ballroom.

which was cut short last year.

Let us strive to do this work.Im closer to it than some of you young folks here.

who was a staunch believer in American ideals.My parents answered truthfully.

He spoke of the importance of language in shaping him and other Japanese Americans.but he also spoke of the tremendous impact that the incarceration had.