SANTA ANA, CA—Assemblyman Jose Solorio (D-Anaheim) today announced that he will serve as the keynote speaker during this Saturday’s Tet Festival of Flowers opening ceremony to celebrate the 2007 Lunar Year—the year of the Hog.  The event will be held at the Vietnamese Catholic Center in Santa Ana. 

“I look forward to helping kick off this spectacular event.  It represents a great opportunity for me to explain that I am here to serve as not only a bridge between the people and state government, but also as a bridge between the Vietnamese Community, the Latino Community as well as all other ethnic communities in Orange County.  I was elected to serve all communities in Orange County,” said Assemblyman Jose Solorio, who was recently elected to serve the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana in the California State Assembly.     

“We are proud to have Assemblyman Solorio speak at the opening ceremony.  We look forward to hearing what he has to say.  I also want to remind everyone that this event would have not been able to be held at the Vietnamese Catholic Center without him helping us getting the event permit from his friends at the City of Santa Ana,” said Ken Nguyen, a spokesman for the event. 

The Vietnamese Catholic Center is a pastoral, cultural and social center which serves more than 45,000 Vietnamese Catholics in the Diocese of Orange as well as the thousands of non-Catholics and various Vietnamese groups and associations in the United States and abroad.   

Saturday’s opening ceremony will feature dancing dragons, a spectacular show featuring more than a half-a-million firecrackers, a traditional Vietnamese “Ao Dai” children’s pageant and famous Vietnamese performers as well as Vietnamese Catholic Choirs.  Thousands of varieties of flowers, such as orchids, chrysanthemums, daisies, lilies, and a variety of fruits, trees, decorations and candy will be on sale.    

More than 10,000 people are expected to visit the Tet Festival of Flowers during a 9-day period ending on the Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, which falls on February 17th, 2007, this year.  The popular event is free and open to the public. 

A number of other federal, state and local elected officials are expected to attend the event, along with Bishop Tod D. Brown, members of the Vietnamese Interfaith Council, Vietnamese community leaders and others.       

The Vietnamese Catholic Center is located at 1538 Century Blvd. (corner of Harbor & Westminster) in Santa Ana.  For more information on the event itself, contact Ken Nguyen at (714) 883-5383.  The opening ceremony will begin at 11 am this Saturday.