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t the end of 2020, the New Year’s Eve Dragon rolled through Oriental for the first time. It was a new way of celebrating the incoming year; usually crowds gathered along Hodges Street to watch the New Year’s Eve Dragon and the Chinese Dragon meet and dance to bring in the new year.

The Dragon rolls down Hodges Street.

It was also an opportunity to get a little good luck in the New Year – all you had to do was touch the Dragon.

COVID changed that in 2020. There was an expectation that 2021 would see the return of a ‘normal’ New Year’s Eve celebration – and a dragon with feet instead of wheels. But the infection rate of the Omicron variant changed that.

The Dragon’s entourage included kids and adults – all riding and helping the along.

The number of COVID cases in North Carolina jumped by nearly 15,000: from 3,698 on December 28, to 18,571 cases on December 30.

One of several dragon handlers riding on the trailer.

Organizers decided to put the Dragon back on the trailer and drive through the neighborhoods.

The path the dragon was supposed to take. It took a wrong turn and missed Dolphin Point in the upper right hand corner.

To give people the chance to get their bit of good luck going into the new year, the Dragon’s head was displayed at the corner of S. Water and Hodges Street on New Year’s Eve, from 2-5p. Dragon Handler Jim Edwards said he was pleasantly surprised at the large number of people who stopped by.

The dragon head on the street corner, available for good luck pets.

Later that night, the Dragon rolled through Oriental on a trailer – visiting people at the end of their driveways. On Hodges St, a crowd and the Chinese Dragon waited, cheering them both on.

After the larger Dragon rolled on to other neighborhoods, the Chinese Dragon danced and played with the crowds.

The Chinese Dragon in the crowd on Hodges Street.

There was one misstep in the plans – a wrong turn took the Dragon out to Whittaker Point instead of Dolphin Point. For that, the Dragon Keeper apologized and TownDock.net offers up this view of the Dragon rolling through on New Year’s Eve 2021 – 2022.

Posted Tuesday January 4, 2022 by Allison DeWeese