《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taipei annual firework festival to run 51 days

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The annual Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks Festival, previously held over one weekend, is this year to be expanded into the 51-day Dadaocheng Summer Festival with weekly firework displays, the Taipei City Government said on Saturday.

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The Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks Festival was usually held on a weekend around the Qixi Festival, or Lovers’ Day, and celebrated with arts, cultural performances, activities, a market, food stalls and a firework display.

Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Chen Shu-huei （陳淑慧） said the Dadaocheng Summer Festival would run from July 1 to Aug. 20, with events planned for weekdays and weekends.

Low-altitude fireworks are to be set off at 8:30pm every Wednesday during the event, while a large firework show would be staged on the evening of Aug. 20, as an early celebration of Lovers’ Day on Aug. 22, she said.

The festival is to be held at Dadaocheng Wharf （大稻埕碼頭） and Yanping Riverside Park （延平河濱公園） in Datong District （大同）. The city government estimated that about 100,000 people watched last year’s firework display.

This year, the festival is to include boat rides on the Tamsui River （淡水河） with scenic views of the riverside, allowing people to enjoy meals on sightseeing rides or just to take in the romantic atmosphere created by colorful decorative lighting along the river, Chen said.

The cargo marketplace at Dadaocheng Wharf is to feature exotic cuisine and local delicacies, the department said.

Chen said the department recommends riding a bicycle to the festival on bikeways along the Tamsui River and the Keelung River （基隆河）.

Ambitious riders can challenge themselves by competing in one of the Taipei Hydraulic Engineering Office’s monthly riverside cycling events, she said.

Riders who complete 66km on the riverside bikeways can win a small gift, she said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES