The celebration of San Francisco's new mayor isn't over yet.
San Francisco’s Chinatown hosted a community banquet, a special night market and a community-led celebration for new mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday night.
Some of the people who spoke to NBC Bay Area on Wednesday said that clear Lurie is bringing a lot of hope for change to those in this community. A section of Grant Avenue was transformed to host a special night market in celebration of San Francisco's new leadership.
Live performances were held, an opportunity to showcase artists and Chinatown restaurants and small businesses said they were ready for it.
"I’m feeling very calm. I’m feeling like it is a new era here in San Francisco, one that is not only going to be defined not only by change but accountability and service," Lurie said.
Thousands of supporters and dignitaries gathered in Chinatown, and close to 800 crowded inside the banquet room of the Far East Cafe.
"This community is what powers our city," Lurie told attendees.
San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott was in attendance and spoke on the Mayor's new plan to combat the fentanyl crisis.
"I definitely feel like there’s a lot more progress that will be made. We’ll see with the emergency order when that happens. It can speed things up," Scott said.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. >Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Attorney General Rob Bonta said he would work with Lurie to perhaps bring special resources for law enforcement to to tackle the crisis.
"We can bring those to bear here in San Francisco to work on tackling some of the organized criminal groups involved in peddling fentanyl," Bonta said. "The same with human traffic, gun smuggling and gun trafficking, hate crimes, and organized retail crime."
Lurie made the rounds on Wednesday morning before being sworn in as the city’s 46th mayor and touted the event.
Tane Chan of the Wok Shop said that she thinks the new mayor's decision to put Chinatown in the spotlight could have a lasting impact.
“We have had some tough times and with mayor Lurie here encouraging all the visitors and all the residents to come and walk through Chinatown and just give us boost,” she said.
Mark Young, co-chair of the unity celebration banquet, said that people can feel the buzz in Chinatown.
“There is going to be 18 vendors a local headliner DJ, his name is Zhu,” he said. “There is going to be cultural festivities as well as this banquet that we have going on which is going to have over 900 guests from the AAPI community.”
The night market celebration is cohosted by the inaugural committee and the non-profit group " Be Chinatown."
Jayde Wong with Lion Dance Me said they’re bringing about 75 high school students out to perform at Wednesday night’s event.
“We’re bringing out all red lions tonight and red is the symbol of good fortune and so we’re some hoping to bring some good fortune to Daniel Lurie during his term as mayor and hopefully he will bring some good fortune back to our community as well,” she said.
