Downtown road closures planned for Victoria Chinese New Year parade

Hundreds of people gathered in Victoria's Chinatown on Sunday to celebrate the second day of the Lunar Year with a traditional lion dance. Jan. 29, 2017 (CTV Vancouver Island)

Road closures are planned for downtown Victoria on Sunday as lion dancers take to the streets to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The lion dance parade begins at 1 p.m. in the 500 block of Fisgard Street and will conclude at the same location at 3 p.m., the Victoria Police Department said in a statement Friday.

The block will be closed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to accommodate the parade, and other downtown intersections will be closed as participants move along the parade route, police said.

"Traffic delays are expected and VicPD officers will be deployed for traffic control and to keep parade participants and community members safe during this event," the statement reads.

The Year of the Rabbit officially began Jan. 22, and local Lunar New Year celebrations kicked off last weekend and will continue through next weekend. 

Sunday's festivities will also include kung fu demonstrations.

"The lion parade will start in the 500-block of Fisgard Street and the lions will take two slightly different routes as they make their way through Chinatown visiting merchants along the way," police said.

Images of the two routes provided by VicPD are embedded below.

The two routes the lion dancers will take are shown. (VicPD)