The New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony at the Presidential Office Building on Sunday is to feature a series of performances that start with marching bands at 5:10am, while the singing of the national anthem and flag-raising is to start at 6:27am, event organizers said yesterday.
Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building, where the main stage is set up, is to open to the public at 4:30am, event organizers said.
The ceremony would start with a performance by Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls’ High School’s marching band, while Taipei Municipal Jianguo Senior High School’s marching band — which won third place at the World Music Contest in the Netherlands in August — is also to perform, they said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
A percussion group founded by jazz drummer Steven Chang (張文光) would also perform, as well as the internationally acclaimed a cappella group Voco Novo.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) is set to arrive between 5am and 5:30am, and stay in the Presidential Office before the singing of the national anthem and the start of flag-raising procedures, said Yeh Kuo-yi (葉國義), CEO of the Taiwan chapter of Lions Clubs International, the main organizer of the event.
The arrangement for Chiang to wait in the Presidential Office appeared to have been mentioned in response to images of then-Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) standing in the cold outside the building while waiting for this year’s flag-raising ceremony sparked controversy.
The theme of Sunday’s New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony is “Together We Can,” the Lions Club said.
Taiwan’s global importance was widely recognized during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-COVID-19 era, Lions Clubs International Taiwan chapter chairman Chang Cheng-chung (張正忠) said.
He said that the upcoming New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony would be even more special than previous years.
The main visual design of the ceremony would highlight the concepts of “resilience” and “connection,” to symbolize that Taiwan has a shared future with the democratic world, designer Lai Chun-hung (賴俊宏) said.
During the ceremony, members of the Lions Club are to lead the singing of the national anthem, while a limited number of masks would be handed out as gifts, event organizers said.
Traffic control measures are to be implemented from 9pm on Saturday to 4:30am on Sunday for the event, they added.
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