CityNews – The Loy Kratong festival or Yi Peng festival was deemed a success by the Municipality, who said the event held great atmosphere all evening and there was a great sense of community spirit across Chiang Mai, despite the increased number of visitors.
The municipality’s celebrations focused on the Lanna culture and art so famously shared during the Yi Peng festival, and was held along the Ping River, near the White Chedi. There were competitions for kratong designs, sky lanterns and visitors to the festivities also enjoyed seven types of parades which celebrated the unique aspects of the Yi Peng and Loy Kratong festivals.
Both foreigners and Thai joined the celebrations and enjoyed the sights from Kaew Narawat Bridge and nearby river banks.
According to event coordinators, the number of teenagers attending the event had increased from last year, which put a strain on the teams put in place to ensure the safety of visitors and to prevent alcohol being consumed in the area.
Following the new rules that stated sky lanterns could only be released on the night of November 25, teams noticed more sky lantern debris than last year.
The municipality encourages all people in Chiang Mai, locals and tourists, to respect the rules and refrain from releasing sky lanterns to ensure safety for airplanes flying in and out of the city.
Wing 41 reported a total of 25 lanterns that landed in the land owned by the air base. Seven were large lanterns and the remaining were regular sized lanterns. They expect more lanterns to fall in the next few days, until the end of the celebrations on November 29.
No lanterns are allowed to be released again until December 31.