Westminster city officials are taking steps to start raising money for next year’s Tet Parade – a celebration of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year at the heart of Little Saigon – after some city leaders raised concerns about the parade becoming too costly.
The parade’s ongoing financial difficulties persist after a city-created committee failed to raise enough money for this year’s parade, forcing the city to spend taxpayer dollars on a event that had more police officers present than ever before – driving up costs.
Now, the parade’s future is in jeopardy as Westminster City Council members scramble to find ways to raise enough money for next year’s parade.
On June 11, council members voted unanimously to form another nonprofit organization – the Westminster Tet Parade Foundation – to fundraise for the parade, which is typically held in February.
Home to one of the largest Vietnamese communities outside of Vietnam, the city’s Tet Parade has become a vital festival for the nearly 40,000 Vietnamese-Americans that reside in Westminster.
The vote came after much debate from city leaders in prior meetings about the need to raise money as fees for the city exclusive event have increased year after year.
This year’s parade hit city coffers for nearly $240,000.
After factoring in sponsorship, parade fees and ticket sales, the cost was reduced to $156,000 – a figure that jumped nearly three times the amount from the previous year.
Last year, it cost the city nearly $60,000.
But this isn’t the first time Westminster City Council has tried to raise money for the parade.
In 2023, Westminster City Council established another non-profit organization, called the Westminster Community Foundation, to help raise funds for city events.
That organization failed to raise any money for the 2025 Tet parade.
This is happening in a city that was projected to face a $2 million general fund budget gap, leading city leaders scrambling to find ways to secure funding for the event celebrating the Vietnamese New Year.
After the story was originally published, Erin Backs, the city’s finance director, clarified in a Wednesday phone interview that despite facing a budget deficit this past fiscal year, the city was able to close the gap for spending on their general fund.
She said that the city brought $2.4 million more in revenue than initially projected – mostly from essential services, like ambulance fees – while expenditures were below $2 million the original estimate from city staff.
Backs added that revenue is projected to exceed expenditures by roughly $700,000 for the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year.
[Read: Westminster Grapples With Potentially Losing Tet Parade]
At the May 14 city council meeting, some elected officials pushed to form a new organization for the sake of saving the Tet Parade.
“We need to establish this new foundation with the singular purpose of raising funds for the parade,” said Councilman Mark Nguyen at the May 14 council meeting.
At the same meeting, Councilman Carlos Manzo said that the Tet Parade “is not going away,” despite concerns of the city’s financial situation.
He added that dipping into the city’s general budget doesn’t change the importance of having the parade in Westminster.
Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen – who first pushed to create a new organization to raise money for the Tet Parade – said that the goal is to “minimize the use of public funding,” and have the event run without the use of taxpayer dollars.
“This will ensure we can continue this very important cultural event,” he said.
The non-profit organization will consist of five board members that are appointed by Westminster City Council. The Westminster Tet Parade Foundation also includes the Mayor and Vice Mayor to help bring in donations for the city.
Paying for a Parade in Westminster
Westminster City Council members are beginning to take note that the annual Tet Parade – a staple in Orange County for the past two decades – has become a costly affair for the city.
In the past, the Westminster Community Foundation – the organization that was created by Westminster City Council two years ago – helped contribute $40,000 for the 2024 Tet parade.
But this year, that same organization didn’t raise any funding.
In a text message to Voice of OC, Westminster City Manager Christine Cordon said that roughly $240,000 from the city’s general fund was pulled for the 2025 Tet Parade.
That’s a nearly $60,000 increase from 2024.
Based on a city staff report, one of the reasons for the sharp increase in city funding is due to paying for law enforcement.
For this year’s parade, Westminster’s Police Department deployed twice the amount of officers compared to previous years, including more undercover officers and armored vehicles at the event.
The parade also saw help from outside agencies: Buena Park, Cypress, Seal Beach and Fountain Valley.
These agencies provided SWAT personnel and other patrol officers that were not present in prior years.
In the same report, city staff wrote “moving forward we can expect these measures to become standard operation procedure for this event.”
Clarification: This article has been updated to reflect the city closing the projected budget gap and actual parade costs to the city after factoring in offsetting revenue, which means the 2025 Tet Parade was nearly three times more expensive than 2024.
You can contact Hugo Rios at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss.