Breathe in the fire of dragons and watch lions dance this weekend at one of the city’s largest parades.

Vancouver’s Chinese New Year’s Parade on Sunday celebrates the Year of the Dragon, with performances by more than 3,000 people from a raft of community and cultural groups. 

“This year we will be having three dragons instead of one because it’s the dragon year,” said Syrus Lee, director of the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association.

Organized by the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver since 1979, the parade has expanded to attract more than 50,000 spectators and includes the largest assembly of traditional lion-dance teams in Canada.

Expect appearances by the Vancouver Police Department motorcycle drill team, marching bands and other multicultural dance troupes.

Taking the same route as last year, the two-hour-long parade begins at noon at the Millennium Gate, proceeds east along Pender Street and south onto Gore Street before turning west onto Keefer Street, and finishes at Keefer and Columbia.

Afterward, free festivities continue until 5 p.m. at a cultural fair at Sun Yat-sen Plaza. The fair runs Saturday and Sunday.

Although there is rain in the forecast for Sunday, Lee is confident the temperamental weather will give way for the parade.

“It’s been raining every year,” he said. “But it has always cleared up when the dragon is around.”