Citylife Garden Fair 2026: Chiang Mai’s BIG day out!
Saturday 21st November, 10am–10pm | Boonthavorn Gardens
There are charity events, and then there is the Citylife Garden Fair.
What began 21 years ago as a modest community fundraiser has grown into one of Chiang Mai’s biggest, busiest and most beloved annual events — a gloriously chaotic day of shopping, eating, drinking, music, children, dogs, friends, old faces, new faces and, importantly, doing some good along the way.
This year, on Saturday 21st November, the Citylife Garden Fair returns to Boonthavorn Gardens for its 21st anniversary, and we are expecting more than 15,000 people to turn up for what has become known affectionately as Chiang Mai’s Big Day Out.
It started with a tsunami
The Citylife Garden Fair began in early 2005, in the aftermath of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. The first event was in facet not organised by us, but we were a big supporter. The next year, Citylife readers and friends asked whether they could use the magazine’s garden for a little fundraising fair. We said yes.
There were stalls, food, friends and a few hundred people.
The idea was simple: bring the community together, have a good time and raise money for people who desperately needed it.
Twenty-one years later, the same basic formula remains — although the gardens, as we have moved from one to another, has become considerably larger.
Over the years, the fair has raised millions of baht for charities and causes across northern Thailand and beyond. It has supported children, vulnerable communities, medical projects, disaster relief, environmental initiatives and countless organisations doing important work without the budgets or profile of the big international NGOs.
What has never changed is that the money raised goes where it is needed.
And what has changed is the scale.
Last year more than 12,000 people came through the gates. This year, more than 400 stalls have been snapped up, selling out almost immediately—within four hours—after bookings opened. From established Chiang Mai businesses to tiny independent enterprises, makers, artists,
restaurants, schools and entrepreneurs, the Garden Fair has become an extraordinary showcase of the people who make this city tick.
Come for the shopping. Stay for everything else.
The Citylife Garden Fair is, admittedly, rather good for shopping.
There will be handmade goods, fashion, crafts, homewares, food, plants, art, second-hand treasures, gifts, local products and plenty of things you absolutely did not know you needed until you saw them.
There will also be restaurants, cafés, food vendors and drinks, because shopping on an empty stomach is simply uncivilised.
Local schools and community groups will take part, children will have plenty to keep them occupied, and local musicians will provide the soundtrack as the day progresses. There will be fantastic bands, singers and exciting performances, all kindly volunteered by the musicians themselves. School groups kick things off in the morning before Thai and expatriate bands take over the stages throughout the day.
There will be charities and community organisations too, some of which are given space free of charge — because the Citylife Garden Fair is not just about raising money for charities; it is also about giving the organisations doing good work in our community a platform.
In other words, you can shop, eat, drink, dance, listen to music, discover something new, catch up with half of Chiang Mai and accidentally spend several hours there.
The serious bit
Behind all the fun is some very serious fundraising.
This year’s principal beneficiary is Philanthropy Connections Foundation’s support of Baan Unrak, a remarkable home and community project in Sangkhlaburi, Kanchanaburi Province. Baan Unrak cares for 137 children and also provides weekly outreach to elderly, disabled and disadvantaged people in the surrounding community.
A further 30% of funds raised will go towards Boonthavorn Chiang Mai’s air-filtration lending library, helping provide more affordable access to air purifiers during Chiang Mai’s annual air-pollution season.
Money is raised through the Citylife Garden Fair’s much-loved tombola and raffle, as well as silent and live auctions. Live auction will be held on the main stage around 4pm.
And this is where the generosity of Chiang Mai’s business community comes into its own.
Businesses, hotels, restaurants and other companies donate prizes, experiences, products and services, creating an enormous pool of things to win and bid for. The result is a slightly unusual fundraising model: people come to have fun, spend a little money, potentially win something fabulous — and collectively raise a substantial amount for people who need it.
One hundred per cent of the money raised goes directly to the chosen causes.
The tombola, the auctions and the possibility of winning something fabulous
The Citylife Garden Fair tombola and raffle costs just 60 baht per ticket, with every ticket carrying a strong chance of winning something worth much more than the ticket price.
That only works because local businesses and Citylife friends are extraordinarily generous with donations.
The silent auction runs throughout the day, while the live auction takes place on the main stage in the afternoon — and if previous years are anything to go by, this is where things can get entertaining.
Very entertaining.
In previous years live auction items have included international flights and hotels as well as resorts all over Asia. Fingers crossed we get some great donations this year too.
And while the bidding can get serious, the reason behind it is always the same: every extra baht raised goes towards helping someone else.
Good for Chiang Mai — and good for the planet
The Citylife Garden Fair also reflects something that has always been important to Citylife: the responsibility to reduce our environmental footprint.
Citylife became northern Thailand’s first carbon-neutral company in 2008, and we have been working with Boonthavorn and Chiang Mai University to make the Citylife Garden Fair carbon neutral too. Last year we achieved that aim and will continue this year.
The event’s emissions — from preparation and transport through to materials and waste — are measured and managed, with recycling and composting built into the event rather than treated as an afterthought. In 2025, the Garden Fair was approved for Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation’s Carbon Neutral Event certification.
There will again be clearly labelled waste stations around the gardens, with recycling and food-waste management forming part of the event’s infrastructure.
Because having 15,000 people descend on one place is quite a lot of people. And quite a lot of rubbish.
So naturally we would prefer to deal with both responsibly.
It takes a city
There are the businesses that donate prizes. The vendors who turn up with their products. The musicians who volunteer their time. The schools and community groups. The charities. Boonthavorn. Citylife’s staff. The volunteers in their Garden Fair T-shirts. The people who donate auction items. The people who buy raffle tickets. And, finally, the thousands who simply turn up.
For one day, all these different parts of Chiang Mai come together in one enormous garden.
It is commercial, charitable, social, musical, gastronomic and gloriously chaotic all at once.
And that, after 21 years, is probably why it still works.
The Citylife Garden Fair was never intended to become an institution. It simply grew because people liked coming, businesses liked supporting it and, most importantly, the money raised actually helped people.
Twenty-one years later, the invitation remains remarkably simple:
Come for the shopping. Stay for the food. Dance to the music. Enter the tombola. Bid wildly at the auction. Bring the children. Bring your friends. Discover a new local business. And help us make a difference.
Because on Saturday 21st November, Chiang Mai is having its Big Day Out.
And we rather hope you will be there.
Citylife Garden Fair 2026 Saturday 21st November 2026 10am–10pm Boonthavorn Gardens, Chiang Mai
With more than 15,000 people expected, parking will be limited. Songtaews will run between Central Airport Plaza and Boonthavorn Gardens approximately every 15–30 minutes at 50 baht each way, with additional parking and free shuttle songtaews available at the petrol station before the fair.
