This year’s Taipei Lantern Festival will light up the city’s streets from Feb. 26 to March 7 with a kaleidoscope of colors featuring a dozen different themes, organizers said yesterday.
Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the festival would be different from past events, and would include promotions for the city’s upcoming floral exposition.
The event will feature several themes, including international and traditional exhibitions, a lantern tunnel and displays created by students.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The two-week festival will be held on streets adjacent to the Taipei City Government building, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall as well as a stretch along Renai Road.
The festival mascot, a tiger named Hoki, is covered with floral designs that its creators said was an artistic fusion of the year of the tiger with the upcoming floral exposition.
“As the upcoming year is the year of the tiger, we used a ‘lucky tiger’ to express optimism for a prosperous and fortunate year,” Hau said. “We also included floral themes on the tiger ... to symbolize our city holding the floral exposition at the end of the year.”
To increase exposure for the event, organizers said up to 200,000 lanterns in the image of Hoki would be handed out prior to the opening.
The city government plans to hand the lanterns out from Feb. 25 to Feb. 28 at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall starting at 2pm and at the Taipei City Government building on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28.
Officials said an additional lantern would be given out free in exchange for two receipts dated between this month and next month.
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