For over two decades, the Westminster Tet Parade in Little Saigon became a vital festival to ring in the Lunar New Year for thousands in Orange County.
But now, Westminster City Council members are questioning if the city can afford to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year in the future as officials wrestle with a $2 million budget deficit.
The parade at the heart of Little Saigon has become a staple for the nearly 40,000 Vietnamese-Americans that reside in Westminster, one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside of Vietnam.
[Read: Westminster Tet Parade Celebrates the Lunar New Year]
Last month, city leaders were at odds about whether or not to establish a public charity to bring in funds for the city’s Lunar New Year festivities – which city officials are saying is necessary in order to stop pulling money from the city’s budget to run the parade.
“I don’t want to use money from the general fund to fund that event. That event is supposed to be funded by itself,” said Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen at the April 9 city council meeting.
The general fund is a city’s primary pool of money, often used to pay for police, fire and other essential city services.
Currently, Westminster is projected to face a nearly $2 million budget deficit on the year.
At 5:30 p.m. today, city council members are expected to vote on establishing an organization solely to raise money for the city’s Tet Parade, referred to as the Tet Foundation.
It comes after Westminster city leaders already tried finding ways to raise money for the annual parade.
In 2023, Westminster City Council had created a non-profit organization – known as the Westminster Community Foundation – to bring in funding for city events including the Tet Parade.
“The Westminster Community Foundation was a failure – it’s pretty obvious to see that,” said Councilman Carlos Manzo during the April 9 city council meeting.
Other elected officials like Councilwoman Amy Phan West want to appoint board members to fill out current vacancies for the existing foundation rather than establishing a new organization to bring in funding for a city event.
In a Tuesday phone interview, City Manager Chrstine Cordon said the Westminster Community Foundation, which is filled with city council appointees, failed to raise any money for city events for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
“The intent of the Westminster Community Foundation is to support community events, functions and other efforts that benefit the greater Westminster community,” she said.
Cordon added “the Tet Parade was identified as the largest community event in the city and the WCF”s efforts in its first year of establishment were directed toward raising funds for this event.”
The 2025 Tet Parade cost the city roughly $240,000 to run, Cordon said in a follow-up text message.
Failing to Fundraise in Westminster
Mayor Nguyen – who brought the item to establish another foundation for the Tet Parade – said during last month’s city council meeting that the city needs to act quickly to prevent not raising money for the festival in consecutive years.
Echoing the mayor, Councilman Mark Nguyen agreed that creating an organization exclusively for the annual festival makes sense for the city financially in the long run.
The Westminster Community Foundation – initially established to bring in fundraising dollars for city events – currently lacks a quorum, meaning no formal action can take place.
The non-profit organization is composed of 11 board members – whom all are appointed by sitting City Council members. There are currently nine vacant seats, based on a city staff report.
“The biggest hurdle for the foundation last year was really just board member turnover,” Cordon, the city manager, said in a phone interview. “We had a lot of resignations.”
According to a staff report, there have been 16 resignations from board members of the Westminster Community Foundation since its first board meeting nearly two years ago in July 2023.
Last September, a host of board members resigned during a city council meeting after sharing their concerns with the long-term goals on fundraising for city events.
During public comment at the Sept. 11, 2024 city council meeting, former foundation board member Julie Diep said that as long as board members are appointed by Westminster City Council, the foundation “will not be effective in serving residents without outside influence.”
Diep, who also serves as a board member for the Anaheim School District, resigned from the Westminster Community Foundation that same day.
Five other board members also resigned that month.
Hugo Rios is a Voice of OC reporting fellow. Contact him at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss.