All the hallmarks of a good party were evident last night along a two-block stretch of Hotel Street: bubbles, food, music and Chinese lion dancers.

About 5,000 people walked in and out of galleries and bars and restaurants to celebrate the most lucky day of the century in Chinese culture: 8/8/08. The word for eight in Cantonese — "baat" — sounds like the word for prosperity — "faat," which means all things lucky.

It portended to be a lucky day for Sunny and Ceno Nacianceno who got married yesterday at Paradise Cove and held their wedding reception on the grounds of 'Iolani Palace. The Waikele couple began planning for this day 13 months ago and chose the date for its good fortune and to make it easy for Ceno to remember, said Sunny.

"My mother is half Chinese," said Sunny Nacianceno. "She thought it was a great idea to launch our life."

Down Hotel Street, throngs of people walked in and out of stores at the Honolulu Arts and Culture District's celebration of the luckiest day. At the stroke of 8:08 p.m. there was a mass bubble-wishing moment, which was preceded by lion dances.

At the 'ewa end of the block was a 16-by-20-foot television screen set up to show the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which had kicked off the Games in Beijing at 8:08 p.m. local time.

Seated on a towel right in front of the giant screen was the Ahn family: Justus, Charis and 4-year-old Valor, who sat with their father, Eun Ahn. Each of their names was chosen to reflect a virtue to match the Kaimuki family's surname, which means "peace" in Chinese and Korean, said Eun Ahn.

"I like the Olympics," Valor Ahn said. "I want to be a wrestler or do taekwondo."

The family came early at 6 p.m. in hopes of watching the opening of the Games, but there was some technical difficulty getting the screen inflated, delaying the screeening for more than an hour.

Sandra Pohl, owner of the Louis Pohl Gallery on Hotel Street, said she was happy to see so many people enjoying the art and the festival-like atmosphere in Chinatown.

"This is the only day that it will be like this in the millennium," Pohl said. "When we first started talking about this in the neighborhood people just got excited. It's all about community and team building. The street festival came together in 2 1/2 weeks. We wanted to celebrate a happy day."

It certainly was a happy day for Shirley Yamada, who won an original Louis Pohl mixed media painting in a drawing.

"I can't believe I won something from the gallery," said Yamada, a Mililani resident. "I like art, too. I will leave it here until later, I don't want to leave an empty space in the window.

"Today was an auspicious day."

Outside the Pohl Gallery was Kathy Teagno, a visitor from Australia, who was tying a bookmark onto a bamboo thicket. The bamboo was covered with other bookmarks containing people's wishes and hopes and dreams.

For Teagno it was a wish of good health for her and her husband and their 9-month-old daughter.

For Rimar Jamora, a Waikiki resident, it was that her friend meet Mister Right.

"I hope that wish comes true," Jamora said. "I tied up four other wishes. It's been such a good day today. I have been looking forward to watching the start of the Olympics. I love them."