The 20th edition of the Yilan Green Expo opens today at the Dongshan River Ecopark (冬山河生態綠舟) in Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山).
With ecotourism as the theme, the county hopes to incorporate concepts such as “green living,” environmental protection, energy conservation and low-carbon diets into everyday life, Yilan County Agriculture Department Director Kang Li-ho (康立和) said on Friday last week at a news conference at the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) offices in Taipei.
The expo’s many spaces include a Farm Station (農遊驛站) exhibition, a Good Times Store (好食光雜貨店) selling local agricultural products and an Ocean School (海洋小學) for young students, he said.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
Inside the experimental agricultural school at the expo, experts are to give demonstrations and visitors will have the opportunity to have a hands-on experience, COA Deputy Minister Chen Chun-chi (陳駿季) said.
Meanwhile, the “ecotourism time machine” uses virtual-reality technology to allow guests to experience what happens when a natural disaster strikes, he said.
Through an interactive experience, it would bring people 100 years into the future and allow them to explore climate change, he added.
To attract visitors from outside the country, the county is offering free admission to those who arrive using public transportation — via train or bus — Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) said.
Visitors can present a physical or electronic ticket stub from the day of or the day before their visit, Lin added.
Group tours by members of farmers’ or fishers’ associations are entitled to a 50 percent discount on the admission fee of NT$100 (US$3.24), organizers said.
To encourage people to attend the expo’s opening ceremony at 10am, the county has prepared 1,000 1kg bags of rice grown at last year’s expo, Lin said.
Visitors can pick up vouchers at the entrance to the expo and at the Taiwan Railways Administration’s Dongshan Station (冬山車站) starting at 9am and redeem them at a counter set up by the expo at the railway station between 11am and 5pm today.
Over the past two decades, the Yilan Green Expo has received subsidies from the council totaling NT$500 million and generated NT$10 billion in business, the Yilan County Government said.
On April 16, the county is to lead a delegation of representatives from trade associations, hotels and guesthouses to Shanghai to promote agricultural products, such as scallions and rice from the county’s 12 administrative districts, Lin said.
The expo runs through May 12, organizers said.
Additional reporting by Chiang Chih-hsiung
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