The Vietnamese restaurant Pho Hoai in Okotoks is celebrating their ten-year anniversary this weekend, and there will be dancing.

"On May 25th, we are going to be celebrating our ten years," explained Lyndsey Tran, who is the manager and co-owner of Pho Hoai. "Our actual anniversary was on the 19th of May. We opened back in 2014, and we wanted to do a little something for the community to celebrate us in all the years that we've been in this location."

As part of the celebration, they will have Chinese-style Lion Dancers in attendance to perform for their guests.

"They are typically more of a Chinese cultural thing, but because my mother-in-law, she has her store in Calgary and she's been in Chinatown for 36, 37 years she's been at her location. Every Chinese New Year, they come in and they do the dance to every single business in Chinatown. And you actually have to give these lions an offering of lettuce and little red Chinese envelopes. It's to bring luck and get rid of any kind of bad spirits. They do certain dance moves that just bring prosperity, wealth, luck, all that sort of thing."

It is also believed that if you give the Lion money during the dance, you will receive money back.

The dancers will begin outside and will make their way inside to visit the guests, as long as they are able to make their way through the restaurant.

Don't worry about tipping the dancers if you don't have cash on you at the event, because Pho Hoai has everyone covered.

But, feel free to give the dancers money, because the dancers put the money into the Chinese Cultural Association, and give back to the community.

The dancers will begin at 3 p.m. and anyone who is dining in at the restaurant at the time the dancers begin dancing will eat for free.

To learn more about the day, check out their Instagram page.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Pho Hoai Okotoks (@phohoaiokotoks)