The biggest rose festival in the northwestern region is scheduled to take place from April 27 to May 30 at Vietnam’s largest rose valley in Sa Pa town, a major tourist destination in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai.
The rose valley boasts an area of up to 50,000 square metres and consists of more than 300,000 roses crossbred from over 150 varieties in Sa Pa, Vietnam and around the world.
Notably, the festival will feature a rose parade consisting of 34 flower carts fully decorated with roses grown in the tourist area and controlled by a cast made up 750 craftsmen, craftswomen, as well as local people from Sa Pa town and Tam Duong district dressed in traditional costumes of ethnic groups.
The parade will run from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. between April 27 and 29 and will travel along the streets of the town centre. The floats, actors, and actresses participating in the procession will stop at five points during their journey, enabling visitors to snap pictures and watch the artists performing beside the floats.
Most notably, a flower procession to Buddha at the peak of Fansipan, the highest mountain in Indochina, will take place at the opening ceremony of the festival on April 27.
Furthermore, fashion shows and art performances will get underway between 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., as well as 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., from April 27 to May 7. Artists will perform Xoe Thai dancing which is an intangible cultural heritage of humanity recognised by UNESCO.
The traditional wedding ceremony of the Red Dao ethnic minority group will be re-enacted during the festival.
The festival is expected to attract more and more tourists to Sa Pa town, as it coincides with the five-day break to mark National Reunification Day on April 30 and International Labour Day on May 1.