Southern Fruit Festival 2010 opens in HCM City

More than 400 species of fruit from orchards in 18 provinces and cites have been brought to the festival’s fruit competition, which opened on June 1 at HCM City’s Suoi Tien Cultural Park.
The safe, delicious fruit competition is a new activity this year to encourage gardeners to apply sci-tech advances to create high-quality fruit species. This is also a chance for gardeners to share their experiences.
The “floating fruit market” is also a new feature. Up to 70 boats filled with fruit are moored at the park’s campus to serve visitors.
The festival will take place over three summer months, with various other activities. The most special events will be the fruit procession by 400 artists, an exhibition of ornamental trees and animals, display of a collection of stones that look like fruits, a fruit market, a fruit art contest among 100 artisans, and the introduction of 26 fruit-made cuisines.
Organisers expect that the festival will lure over 1 million visitors, selling over 1,000 tons of fruit.
The festival is an annual event held by the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Suoi Tien Cultural Park to introduce fruits of the south to local and foreign tourists.