The Southern Fruit Festival - Suối Tiên Farm Festival will be slated in June at District 9’s Suối Tiên Theme Park, providing visitors with exciting cultural, cross-cultural, and tourism activities, said the event organiser in a press conference on Tuesday. VNS Photo Gia Linh

HCM CITY The Southern Fruit Festival - Suối Tiên Farm Festival will be held from June 1 to the end of August at District 9’s Suối Tiên Theme Park (HCM City), with exciting activities for local and foreign visitors.

Themed Hành Trình Làm Nông Hạnh Phúc (The Happy Journey of Farming), the annual event will introduce diverse and exotic tropical fruits, honour farmers, and promote cultural, cross-cultural, and tourism activities.

It marks the 20th anniversary of the highly anticipated fruit arrangement competition, in which artisans will create metre-high fruit sculptures based on themes.

Besides culture, tourism, and history, there will be topics on green tourism, the development of HCM City, and the modernisation of Vietnamese agriculture, said Bùi Thị Tố Trinh, deputy general director of Suối Tiên Theme Park.

They include such themes as marking the 20th anniversary of Southern Fruit Festival, welcoming the Official Run of the Metro - Suối Tiên Line, and highlighting Vietnamese farm produce.

The organiser has received hundreds of models by artisans from HCM City, Đồng Nai and Bình Dương provinces, to name a few, and is evaluating them.

“Each work requires an artisan to be extremely meticulous and creative. They have been preparing for the contest for almost a year,” Trinh told Việt Nam News, adding that the park has supported the artisans by providing lighting, misting, and gear systems to help their projects come to life.

Winners will be announced at the award ceremony on June 9.

Fruit arrangement competition is a highly anticipated activity of the festival. Photo courtesy of Suối Tiên Theme Park

The park will also host an opening ceremony of the Friendship Garden that welcomes consulate generals of 27 countries to mark the 35th establishment anniversary of the HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations (a co-organiser).

Highlighting the festival are many first-ever activities to raise awareness on environmental protection and building a green, clean, and safe environment such as promoting local speciality products, introducing a recycled product collection, and organising the Green Unity Campaign competition and an exhibition on high-tech farming models.

The Green Unity Campaign competition will showcase environmentally-friendly products in five categories: being recycled and upcycled, using green energy and energy-saving, being air- and water-friendly, being interactive and educative, and being ecosystem-friendly.

An agricultural tourism model growing over 30 foreign fruits such as fig (the US), pomegranate (India), cherry (Brazil), chocolate persimmon (Indonesia), pink grape (Japan), and black candy grape (France), is also ready to welcome visitors.

The fruits are grown under strict organic and VietGAP standards, and visitors can pick their own fruits and enjoy them at the site.

Other activities include a market selling local specialty fruits such as plums, avocado, mango, mangosteen, watermelon, and longan.

There will also be a food market with over 20 stalls offering special delicacies from three regions, a rare and gigantic fruit collection, and multiple musical performances.

A parade themed "Suối Tiên Farm - Strive for Globalisation" is also part of the festival to honour diplomatic ties among countries in ASEAN.

By providing many cultural and cross-cultural activities, the event is expected to welcome more foreign visitors this year, said Huỳnh Đông Tuấn, deputy general director of Suối Tiên Theme Park. VNS