SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of San Francisco residents and foreign tourists packed both sides of the streets in Chinatown on Saturday as the city kicked off an annual grand parade to mark the Chinese New Year.

The parade, carrying on a 161-year-old tradition, is hailed as the biggest parade celebrating the lunar new year outside of Asia and one of the few remaining night illuminated parades in North America. It featured gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, ferocious lions, exploding firecrackers, Chinese Kung Fu or martial arts, Chinese legendary figures such as the God of Wealth, as well as newly crowned USA Miss Chinatown for this year.

Launched in the 1860s by the Chinese community in San Francisco, the parade has grown into the largest celebrations of Chinese cultural tradition outside Asia and an iconic annual event in the city.

More than 100 groups and organizations, including officials, children, students, and even police and fire department officers, participated in the parade that entertained and delighted tens of thousands of people who attended the celebrations.

"This parade has been on my bucket list for over 20 years and I'm finally getting to see it, and I'm loving it," said Scott Fadzem, a retired entrepreneur, who was waiting on the sidewalk.

"What I'm seeing and what I know about Chinese culture isn't a lot, but a lot of smart kids coming through here. It's great to see that the culture is being honored," he said, referring to the children participating in the parade who he thinks might be future students of the U.S. elite Ivy League universities.

He said he used to live near the place but has never made it to the parade. "So now I'm living back in California and I decided this was one of the things that had to go on the list for the year," said Fadzem, who has just moved back from Pennsylvania.

Lysa De Thomas, a teacher with Merced Public Montessori, a middle school in Merced County in Central Valley of California which was about 177 km away, brought nine of her students to San Francisco for the event.

She said her students have been taught Chinese language and culture, and watching the parade would be a special and an unforgettable experience for them.

"What I love is the cultural exchange for my students because it's so unique and so different from a lot of the things that they've never experienced," she said.

"They've all been to parades before, but they never been to a parade with so many different things and it's so exciting for them," De Thomas said.

She said her students, who were wearing traditional Chinese costumes, were very excited to see all the things they've been studying and learning about for the last three weeks.

"What we've done a lot is we've looked at the things that are similar to our culture and things that are different, so that we can learn to see the similarity between all people and be excited about the differences and enjoy them," said the middle school teacher who was sitting on the ground of the sidewalk with her students.

"This is the age where they learn love and acceptance and tolerance," she said, referring to her students.

The grand San Francisco parade to mark the Year of the Pig also blended the Western marching bands with performance of traditional stilts-walking done by players in traditional costumes, drawing applause and cheers.

The procession wound its way through the oldest Chinatown in San Francisco, ending at the Columbus Avenue in downtown city, as San Francisco Mayor London Breed ignited a long string of firecrackers.

The exploding firecrackers signaled the arrival of the lunar Chinese New Year with the spectators cheering and shouting, while the most-anticipated 288-foot-long (about 88-meter-long) Golden Dragon maneuvered by 180 men and women danced in the street, wishing good luck for everyone in the Year of the Pig.