Floats for San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade get finishing touches

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — ABC7 Eyewitness News got a sneak peak as crews put the finishing touches on the floats you’ll see at Saturday’s San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade.

Since it’s the year of the fire horse, you’ll see a lot of horses and fire symbolism on the floats, housed at Pier 19.

“So Year of the Horse, it’s energy, it’s passion, it’s momentum so a lot of things that we’re really hoping to embody in the new year,” said Stephanie Mufson, owner of San Francisco-based The Parade Guys, which designs and constructs the floats.

She said they’ve been building them for about three months, with the designs starting in November.

MORE: Bay Area artist brings Year of the Horse statue to life for Golden State Warriors

“We’re in the home stretch,” she said. “We’ve got a couple of days left and we’ve got a nice little team that’s cranking out all the finishing work that needs to go into it.”

Derrick Shavers was sanding some wood that will be painted and become cherry blossom trees on a float.

“It’s exciting,” Shavers said. “I look forward to coming every year and just creating and making things shine and sparkle.”

Bon was painting mountains for a float, making sure everything is perfect in time for the parade.

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“It’s one of the few parades that actually happens at night still,” Bon said. “So we got to make sure all the lighting is in check, and people are safe on the float. It’s all in the details, just for it to walk by you for 10 seconds.”

Ten seconds that bring so much joy to those watching the parade.

Here’s how you can watch the parade on ABC7 Eyewitness News on Saturday, March 7.

Coverage starts at 5 p.m. wherever you stream ABC7.

SF Chinese New Year Parade 2026: How to watch ABC7 Eyewitness News live coverage

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live