THE COLOR GUARD at Garden Grove’s Tet Parade on Sunday morning displayed the U.S. and Republic of Vietnam flags. (Orange County Tribune photos).

Under foggy skies, the Eighth Annual or First Annual – depending on your point of view – Tet Parade stepped out Sunday morning along Westminster Avenue between Brookhurst and Euclid streets in Garden Grove.

LION DANCERS entertained while the Tet parade in Garden Grove was undergoing preparations Sunday morning.

Led by an honor guard bearing flags of the United States and the one-time Republic of (South) Vietnam, the procession marched east with local office-holders, military vehicles, floats, bands and music.

In the shopping center at the northeast corner of Brookhurst and Westminster, the traditional lion dancers performed, with firecrackers snapping and smoking as the colorful felines danced.

Thousands of onlookers lined the route to watch the tribute to the heritage of Vietnamese-American culture. This is the eighth Tet parade in a Little Saigon district in Orange County. The previous parades had been held along Bolsa Avenue in Westminster (as one was held this Saturday) by the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California, led by Garden Grove city councilman Phat Bui.

But this year, a different group was chosen, so the VAFSC set up a rival parade in this city.