The
flower street will be opened to visitors on January 31, or the 28th
day of the final lunar month, and closed on February 6, or the fourth
day of the new lunar year.
Chiem Thanh Long, deputy head of the organizing committee of the
Nguyen Hue Flower Street, told the Daily last weekend that the
organizer had placed orders for flowers with farmers in HCMC, the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands city of Dalat.
Visitors will have the opportunity to see around 90 species of
flowers along the main street in the city’s commercial district as they
ring in the Lunar New Year.
Also shown along the street will be models of traditional items for
the country’s largest festive event, such as Banh Tet (sticky rice
cake) and watermelons.The organizer will turn Le Loi Boulevard into a
pedestrian-only street, near Nguyen Hue, and make it a venue for music
performances, folk dances and games at night on February 6.
As part of the Tet Festival 2011, the city will again organize a
contest to make Banh Tet, decorate the main streets with color lighting
systems, display fireworks, and stage music and light shows.
The
street lighting decoration program will kick off first, with main
streets Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi, Le Loi and Le Duan to be brightly lit
from January 26 to February 13. Such lighting was done during the
Christmas and New Year holidays.
In the Banh Tet cooking contest, set for January 26 to 31, the best
cake will be used as a token offering to the Hung Kings and 10,000
smaller Banh Tet cakes for poor people to enjoy Tet.
Organizer Saigontourist has taken contributions from many other companies to hold the Tet festival.
While Nguyen Hue Flower Street is on, some vehicles will be banned
from this road from late this month to early February. Cars are not
allowed on Nguyen Hue from Le Loi to Ton Duc Thang streets from January
21 to February 7. All vehicles are disallowed from January 31 to
February 6 on Nguyen Hue Street and at night on February 6 on Le Loi
Street, from Quach Thi Trang roundabout to the HCMC Opera House.