Despite the snowy obstacles, a multitude of parents brought their children to The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier on Saturday, Feb. 5 for its Chinese New Year Celebration.

The Discovery Center, located on 60 Morgan Road, attracts patrons as an interactive and diverse children’s museum. Some of the sections at the Center include a miniature Weis Markets exhibit where children can role-play and a “Take Flight” area that has a helicopter simulation as well as a hot air balloon basket. On Saturday, however, the focus was Chinese New Year, the start of the Year of the Tiger. According to the Center’s website, “if you are born in the Year of the Tiger you are competitive, self-confident and brave and possess willpower, courage and strength.” Chinese New Year is a widely celebrated and extremely important holiday in Chinese culture. It celebrates the beginning of the new year in the lunar calendar. Stations and activities were set up all around the museum, free with admission, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to educate children about the New Year.

The entire museum was bustling with joyful and entertained children running around with their parents and having a good time. A big takeaway was the sounds of exuberance and laughter throughout the Center. This was mainly because of the fun variety of ongoing activities during the three-hour event. One was a Chinese zodiac floor hunt, where you are given clues to find the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac hidden all throughout the museum. Another one was a reading of the book “Daisy Comes Home” by Jan Brett. Children sat and listened while petting the Discovery Center’s pet chicken, Teriyaki. The Ahearn Playhouse within the museum had more activities as well, such as a red envelope glitter table, a Chinese lantern craft station and animated shorts from Binghamton University’s Confucius Institute of Chinese Opera.

Kaman Kuan, 39, visited with her husband and three children to the Discovery Center to celebrate Chinese New Year as they do every year. As someone of Chinese heritage, Kuan loved the effort the Discovery Center put in to show off all the different aspects of the holiday, such as playing traditional Chinese music as well as bringing in people of different ethnic groups to the event.

“It’s good to see other people that are interested about the festival in the Chinese New Year,” Kuan said. “It’s fun to do it with other people with this environment.”

Kuan also appreciated the staff and volunteers who were all helpful and enthusiastic about the holiday. Angelin Tai, a volunteer at the event and junior majoring in Integrative neuroscience, came to help as part of the community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. She loved working with the children and having the opportunity to take part in the Chinese New Year in this fashion.

“As an Asian American, I think it’s important that we expose other people to the different cultures around here, and I think it’s a great way [to celebrate] because I wasn’t home for the holidays,” Tai said.

Chinese heritage is always represented at the Discovery Center with an installation called the Plum Dragon Palace. Qiang-Hua Wang, a BU alumnus, designed it as a replica of an actual diner in Shanghai, China. The event held a chopstick challenge in this area, which taught children the history of chopsticks and how to use them efficiently. The Plum Dragon Palace also had information and coloring sheets related to the Kitchen God, an ancient deity that reports to another deity, the Jade Emperor. The Kitchen God shows the importance of exchanging sweets in Chinese New Year tradition so the report will be sweet and praising.

The ending of the event was a Dragon Parade that began in the Ahearn Playhouse. Volunteers and children held a dragon up and walked throughout the museum to the sounds of marching drums. Everyone returned back to the theater where bubble wrap was laid out all over the floor. Children and adults alike took the opportunity to stomp on the bubble wrap to imitate the sounds of fireworks. The energy in the room made the adults feel like a kid again.

Cheryl Dutko, the assistant executive and special event director of the Discovery Center, organized the event. Dutko was pleased with the turnout despite the snow and that children were learning new things in a creative and engaging way. She believes Binghamton plays a large part in the importance of having the event in the first place.

“Our area is very culturally diverse so we like to represent all different cultures,” Dutko said. “So when the kids come to the museum they see themselves reflected or they can share their culture.”