Chinatown will roar like a dragon this weekend, with a festive slate of events heralding the Year of the Dog, which begins Sunday.

"Chinatown is the center of gravity for the Chinese community," said Alvin Wong, president-elect of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, one of three local Chinese groups that had, in the past, staged its own celebration amid a spirit of unspoken competition.

For the first time this year, however, there's cooperation and a unified vision — thanks to Evan Leong, 33, who operates three businesses and who has been instrumental in getting the competing groups together. After all, the groups share the same mission of celebrating Chinese culture when the new year dawns.

Last weekend's slate — Night in Chinatown on Maunakea Street and another celebration at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza — was the start of the new partnership; this weekend's celebration continues the alliance. "Because some events were already in place, we had to do Chinatown nights over two weekends," Leong said.

This weekend's events are centered at two sites: the Maunakea and King Street corridor, where Chinese lion dances will crackle and cavort amid exploding firecrackers in new year ritual; and at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza, bordered by Beretania, Maunakea and Kukui Streets, where there will be food and cultural booths plus entertainment stages, creating a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells that traditionally defines the celebration.

Expect clanging gongs and drums from physical culture groups; calligraphy messages to bring good luck for the new year; narcissus bulbs to add ambiance to your home; and the allure of Chinese food and snacks (ranging from gao, the pudding-like staple, to jai, the hearty broth of the season).

Of course, you also can pick up ornamental dogs — in ceramic, stone or as charms — from vendors. And buy a Year of the Dog T-shirt to wear the greeting on your chest or your back.

Wong said a marketing umbrella, dubbed the Hawai'i Chinatown New Year Celebration, was a godsend: less confusing, less competitive, less overhead, less divisiveness. In time — ideally as early as next year, or by 2008 — there will be one major weekend flurry of Chinatown festivities to mark the new year instead of the overlapping two weekends. Streamlining and bolstering the calendar will facilitate a better celebration, Wong said.

It's all because of the efforts last spring of business students at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, including Leong, who needed to get involved in a community project as part of earning his master's degree in business administration.

They agreed to mold a marketing concept for the popular annual event.

Leong and his college chums, who all graduated in August, were able to corral three cultural groups — the Chinese Chamber, the Chinatown Merchants Association and the United Chinese Coalition — to map out a unified plan. The business students all stayed on, beyond their UH commitment, to see the festival through. "We're all volunteers, like most other participants," said Leong.

The month leading to Chinese New Year (in some years, the new year starts in February) can embrace a cultural and entertainment mix, tapping the annual Narcissus Festival with community appeal and involving the emerging artisan and art community in the Chinatown neighborhood already geared up for the monthly First Friday festivities, according to Wong. The climax, of course, is the street festival with food, lion dancers, beauty queens and more.

The organizers are happy with the way the unified effort has unfolded so far.

Already, the Chinese New Year ribbons, fashioned after the button-with-ribbon "badge" that characterizes the Aloha Festivals' participation, have been a quick, if modest, success. Only 3,000 yellow-and-red buttons were prepared this year because of the late start. And they've pretty much sold out already.

Ribbon buyers get discounts from participating restaurants and jewelry merchants, not only in Chinatown, but throughout O'ahu, through January.

Next year, with more lead time, a lot more buttons will be made and sold, possibly with a grander base of participation.

Leong said being an outsider helped him get everyone on the same page.

"We were able to break the barrier. Everyone's busy, after all, and everyone wanted to help Chinatown prosper," he said.

"Once each organization heard the other organization's goals, they all saw that they had many things in common and the same intentions."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.