Plenty of our Flickr contributors went down to enjoy the annual Chinese Lunar New Year Parade on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, a lot of folks ended up disappointed by the sudden cancellation of the traditional five-story firecracker display. The lighting of the giant firecracker was finally called off after being delayed for a full two hours due to a suspected gas leak. We've heard from a lot of parade spectators who stood by through the entire delay and were none too pleased to have been let down after waiting so long. D.C. fire spokesperson Alan Etter told the Associated Press that a strong odor of gas appeared to be coming from a manhole near 6th and H Streets NW, and apparently fire officials exercised extreme caution by eventually deciding to the cancel the pyrotechnics.

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Yeah, that made me pretty mad. We stood there for some two hours and then they just announced they weren't doing it. Our tax dollars at work I guess.
I go every year, and usually there is some reason not to set off the giant firecracker! I think people need to just relax and enjoy everything else this event has to offer. There's speeches and drumming and dancing and food, so what more could you want?
The best way to see the lighting of the giant firecracker is to .. imagine it! Seriously, it is not very impressive when they actually manage to light it.