Patong cancels all official Songkran events

“This year, Patong will not hold any official Songkran festival celebration events at all.”

All official Songkran events in Phuket’s Patong municipality, including the “Songkran on the Beach” play zone and the DJ dance party have been cancelled. Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup made the announcement on her social media channels yesterday.

Patong is the traditional epicentre for Songkran festivities in Phuket, with the beach resort town hosting a variety of celebrations events and entertainment performances on the beach for locals and tourists alike. Festivities were to be held each day and night, from April 11 through 15.

But Chalermluck says the festivities are off.

“This year, Patong will not hold any official Songkran festival celebration events at all. We held a discussion and concluded that we will not hold any official events at all because we want to avoid all risk of COVID-19 spreading, which becomes more likely with large crowds. We will make an official announcement soon.”

Among the official events were the popular sand sculpting competition, the Miss Songkran beauty pageant, traditional Thai dance shows, live music performances and an electronic dance music party on the beach. The large public merit-making events traditionally held at Loma Park in the morning during the Songkran holidays have also been cancelled.

Chalermluck stressed that cancelling official public events did not mean there was a ban on celebrating Songkran in Patong.

“People still can enjoy their water play on Bangla Road. We don’t have any authority to ban people playing with water during the festival. They can if they want to. But please be careful when playing, be polite and safe.”

Thailand has not seen a community spread of the virus, and only confirmed 47 cases, the majority of whom have recovered, but as cases grow across the globe, there is concern that a massive event like the water festival, which could easily draw over a hundred thousand people, would risk spreading the disease further.

Songkran is the Thai New Year Holiday and the single biggest holiday event on the Thai calendar. The events cancelled were the public events, people are of course free to celebrate privately.

SOURCES: The Phuket News | The Pattaya News