Dern Rim Lay Festival on Kata Beach today

Phuket is celebrating the holiday with the launch of a number of Christmas and New Year’s events, starting with the Dern Rim Lay @ Kata Festival. The festival began yesterday and continues now in Karon on Kata Beach. Street stalls line the beach and around 150 vendors are offering food and shopping to the thousands of locals, residents, expats, and tourists enjoying the holiday fun.

The festival features all the delicious street food you would expect, with local delicacies and snacks, fresh seafood, and all sorts of fruit shakes, teas, and other delicious drinks. The Dern Rim Lay Festival also features live entertainment, with music and bands playing on stage and other entertainment activities. Samran band is scheduled to play today. Local arts and crafts and other products will be for sale at shops around the festival as well.

Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay Pinsuwan and Karon Mayor Jadet Wicharasorn hosted an opening ceremony for the festival yesterday, according to the Phuket News. Leaders and government figures joined to celebrate the launch of the beach festival including industry executives from the private sector and officials from Patong municipality next door.

The Dern Rim Lay @ Kata festival began yesterday and will continue throughout the day and evening today from 4pm on. It is located on Pak Bang Road running all along the beachfront at Kata Beach. The festival was organised by the Karon municipality in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Phuket office.

The Dern Rim Lay @ Kata festival along with the popular Roi Rim Lay fairs are intended to bring some joy and activity to an area at a much-needed time. The mayor of Karon spoke at the opening ceremony of the struggle Phuket has faced coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. For an area so heavily reliant on tourism revenue, the years of the pandemic decimated the economy. He perhaps understated it when he said the pandemic was one of the biggest challenges in the last decade that Phuket has dealt with.

The festival is a chance for tourists and locals to come out and stimulate the economy while having a good time. It encourages tourism and welcomes visitors while bringing much-needed money to the local community. Officials hope that the Dern Rim Lay @ Kata festival will remind people of the fun, delicious food, water activities, culture, and heart of Phuket and provide a good time for tourists and locals over the holidays.