After partnering with the Asian American Business Development Center for the past seven years, the management of the Empire State Building Company has decided to work with another group to light the building in red and gold on Feb. 7 in celebration of Lunar New Year.
The group that the Empire State Building Company will partner with is yet to be decided.
Since 2000, the Asian American Business Development Center, a New York-based nonprofit serving Asian-owned businesses, has sponsored an annual lighting ceremony atop the Empire State Building, where federal, state and city officials would present proclamations in recognition of the Lunar New Year.
But this year, the Empire State Building Company, which came under new management last year, instituted a formal application process for prospective lighting partners and asked the group in September to fill out an application to request the lighting partnership.
The group’s request was denied on Dec. 11 because the proposed Feb. 5 event date conflicted with a previously scheduled event, the annual “Empire State Building Run-Up,” where more than 100 runners race up the stairs to the 86th floor of the building, according to Melanie Maasch, director of brand development and public relations at the Empire State Building Company.
The Asian American Business Development Center’s ceremony has been typically held two days before the Lunar New Year, said John Wang, the group’s president, but the Empire State Building Company asked the group in early December to consider changing the date of the ceremony.
“I explained to them that on Lunar New Year’s Eve, families gather at home and tend to not go out, and on New Year’s Day, there are also many family activities,” Wang said. “That’s why we hold it two days before.”
Maasch said the company offered to hold the event on Feb. 7 but that Wang refused. Wang said he told the company that the group would consider changing the event date to Feb. 7, but after being told that he would have to reapply for the new date, he asked for a firm commitment from the company, which he said it was unable to provide. “I said, ‘Are you committed to doing this?’” Wang said. “Rather than go through the song and dance, let me know. They gave me the typical bureaucratic response.”
Maasch said that although the building could not accommodate the group’s proposed event date, the company has always been committed to lighting up the building in honor of the Lunar New Year. “We were always going to do this — every year for the past seven years, we’ve done a lighting up, so it was never in question,” Maasch said. “The management has great respect for the Asian and Asian American community.”
Maasch noted that other Asian organizations have applied to help light the building on Feb. 7, but she said it was premature to discuss which groups in particular would be potential partners.
Wang contends that the company never promised to light the building for Lunar New Year, with his or any other group. “When I spoke to them, they did not mention the lighting on the seventh, and they refused to commit to lighting the building for the Lunar New Year,” he said.
Wang said he is glad that the building will be lit, regardless of who partners with the building. “As far as I am concerned, that they recognize Asian Americans is of the utmost importance,” Wang said. “People feel good about it because Asian Americans have been recognized, so if they want to do it with another organization and light the building in recognition, we support that. I don’t know the game they are playing, but I am satisfied that they recognize the importance of the Lunar New Year and would light the Empire State Building in celebration of that occasion.
