The first of the beauty pageant heats is scheduled to begin two hours later at the same venue. Although the festival proper does not begin until the evening, flower displays and ornamental garden features will have already been open since the morning.
The parade scheduled for Saturday morning is the highlight of the annual festival. The retinue usually features 25 to 30 floats bedecked with stunning flower arrangements. Some of the floats even have a local beauty queen resplendent in all her robes and crown sitting on a throne on top of them.
Some time after 08:00, the parade sets off from the Ping River’s Nawarat Bridge and wends its way slowly up Thapae Road. From there, it crosses Thapae Gate Plaza and on through the streets leading to Buak Haad Park.
The plants, flowers and other horticultural offerings will be on show at both Thapae Gate and the park until late on Sunday evening. This year’s flower festival is the 39th and is designed to showcase Chiang Mai Province’s horticultural products. The organisers say more than 200 different genres of bloom will be on show.
People looking to attend the flower festival and who have not bought their travel tickets to Chiang Mai yet can take advantage of 12GO ASIA’s late reservations service.
Annual flower festival kicks off in Chiang Mai tomorrow
News in Asia
Chiang Mai’s eagerly anticipated flower festival is set to begin with an official launch ceremony tomorrow evening. City officials will attend the ceremony at Buak Haad Park at 17:00.