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| Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Le Truong Luu (furthest left) and Chairman of Hue City People's Committee Vo Le Nhat (furthest right) visited the conical hat booth in the craft space |
Stirring up the streets and alleys
Taking place from April 28th to May 5th, Hue Traditional Craft Festival 2023 included 21 main programs and activities that extended from the central areas of the city to surrounding regions.
The main venues for organizing the festival included Nguyen Dinh Chieu pedestrian street, the Craft Village Cultural Center, the Museum of Fine Arts, and parks such as Tu Tuong, Phan Boi Chau, and Thuong Bac, making the streets bustling and crowded. Thousands of visitors came to enjoy the programs, participate in craft experiences with artisans, shop for products from 69 typical craft villages nationwide, and indulge in the food festival "The quintessence of the noodle making ".
According to Ms. Tran Thu Ha, a visitor from Ho Chi Minh City, Hue Traditional Craft Festival this year coincided with the April 30th and May 1st holidays, so they could take advantage of the long holiday to attend the festival programs, shop for souvenirs, and visit the famous tourist attractions in Hue. The atmosphere in the city in the past few days had been lively, vibrant, and there were many places to ‘check-in’.
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| The craft weaving demonstration at the exhibition space showcasing products, and honoring artisans and craft villages |
At Hue Traditional Craft Festival 2023, the exhibition space showcasing products, honoring artisans and craft villages, and the space for Hue's specialty cuisine were considered impressive highlights that attracted many tourists.
At the festival, the organizers created high artistic value spaces by arranging various art installations, including the Phan Boi Chau Park space with woven bamboo products, bang grass mats, kites, conical hats, paper flowers, and trucchi; the Tu Tuong Park space with woven products; the Nguyen Dinh Chieu pedestrian street space with traditional products such as ao dai, ceramics, and woodcarving; and the Ba Huyen Thanh Quan street space with traditional products such as me xung sweets and cajeput oil.
Each space told a story about a traditional craft, introducing handmade products with the Vietnamese imprint. Throughout the 8-days, the Festival attracted over 300,000 visitors who came to shop and explore. The total revenue and orders of the traditional craft villages reached over 15 billion VND, an increase of 35% compared to the 2019 Hue Traditional Craft Festival.
Owner of Thai Vinh wood sculpture company, artist Phung Huu Thai said that participating in the exhibition at Hue Traditional Craft Festival was a great opportunity to promote products and sign contracts. In addition to the sales in recent days, the company signed some contracts and exchanged goods with partners in the profession, contributing to improving craftsmanship and creating many new designs to meet market demand.
Heading towards professionalism
The culinary festival "The quintessence of noodle making" was also a stopping point for tourists to visit and enjoy the cuisine. In the 4-day event, the festival attracted over 45 thousand visitors to visit, experience, shop and enjoy food, with revenue of over 5 billion VND. In addition, first-time programs such as "Grateful to the Huong River", ceramics exhibition, and stilts performance also created a lively and meaningful atmosphere for tourists.
Hue Traditional Craft Festival 2023 also aimed towards creativity and innovation, such as organizing the exhibition space "Creative Handmade Design" at the Hue Craft Village Cultural Center with the participation of 22 units and individuals from within and outside the province, as well as talk shows with the participation of famous experts.
Especially, this year's Traditional Craft Festival has established 4 Vietnamese records, including: the product "The sculpture of 18 Arhats on the largest whole-jackfruit-wood in Vietnam" by artist Phung Huu Thai placed on Nguyen Dinh Chieu pedestrian street, the product "The largest lotus leaf conical hat in Vietnam" by artist Nguyen Thanh Thao placed in Phan Boi Chau park, the product "The Tam Quan Ruong gate (three-entrance Ruong gate) in the style of the Hue Imperial Court" by the business owner Le Dac Nguyen Xuan placed in Tu Tuong park, and the dish "Mixed Hue-style rice noodle served for 1,000 people at once" in Thuong Bac park.
The Chairman of the People's Committee of Hue City and Head of the Organizing Committee of the 2023 Traditional Craft Festival, Mr. Vo Le Nhat, affirmed that this festival has spread the interest and pride of the people of Hue. Through this event, traditional crafts of Hue, its people and image have been introduced and promoted to friends and tourists from both near and far, contributing to boosting tourism and other fields in the area.
The festival is gradually becoming international, with the participation of famous traditional craftsmen from several countries around the world, through the friendly cooperation relationship that Hue with its reputation has established.
Specifically, 37 craftsmen from six cities with cooperative ties to Hue in South Korea and Japan attended the event. Particularly, there were performances by art groups such as stilts performances (Belgium), traditional musical instruments, K-Pop performance, contemporary Taekwondo martial arts, Hanbok costume and Singing and Chanting (South Korea).