Bangkok Digital Loy Krathong Festival wins best eco-friendly festival

The 2023 Bangkok Digital Loy Krathong Festival at the Ong Ang Canal near Bangkok’s Chinatown scooped an Asia Pinnacle Award for the Best Eco-Friendly Festival category.

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s (BMA) official Facebook page yesterday, February 21, invited its followers to join in celebrating the latest award, Best Eco-Friendly Festival, from Asia’s Pinnacle Awards. The BMA added that the representative would attend the award ceremony on February 28.

The award was given to the Loy Krathong event held at the Ong Ang Canal in November last year. The event was praised for using an innovative solution to reduce the environmental impact of the traditional Loy Krathong festival.

During the event, participants were able to enjoy the traditional festival with less impact on the environment. Instead of floating Krathong or banana baskets in the canal, the event offered a digital Krathong, which participants could float using their smartphones.

Bangkok installed a white screen above the Ong Ang Canal and used projection mapping technology to display each participant’s Krathong on the screen.

Last year was the first year that Bangkok launched the Bangkok Digital Loy Krathong Festival, and the city was proud that its eco-friendly effort caught the eye of the Asia Pinnacle Awards committee.

The Asia Pinnacle Awards are run by the non-profit organisation International Festivals and Events Association (IFEA). Thirty-eight countries around the world are members of the organisation, which is divided into seven regions including Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America.

The BMA also announced more good news yesterday that Bangkok, along with Yala and Khon Kaen provinces, had been selected by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) as members of the UNESCO Learning City.

The city unveiled an upcoming event, the 2024 Bangkok Read & Learn Festival, which will feature activities promoting lifelong learning throughout March.