Floral street festival to open in capital
Update: Dec 23, 2008
Artistic and floral creations will be on display, bringing colour to a 600-metre long street in the centre of Hanoi from Dec 28, 2008 three days before the festival officially begins to kick off the New Year?s celebrations.

The five-day event, which will take place in Dinh Tien Hoang Street at Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake), will gather purveyors of flowers and floral artisans from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Lam Dong province?s Da Lat city, as well as craftsmen from Hanoi?s traditional villages.

According to Nguyen Thi Hoa, deputy director of the Vietnam Culture and Art Exhibition Centre, some 5,000 flowerpots and 20,000 cut flowers will be used for decoration at the event.

Works of art will be created from flowers, or from a combination of flowers and traditional products, such as bird cages, wind bells, masks, drums and unicorns, Hoa said.

Two prominent works, a 9-metre fan made entirely of flowers and a 50-metre pottery street, a reproduction of 200 tiled-roof houses in the Old Quarter, are expected to be recognised as Vietnamese records during the event.

The festival has been organised as the opening event in a series of activities to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long ? Hanoi.
VNA