TL;DR- Bigger, better, stronger.
Chinese New Year is almost synonymous with River Hongbao – remember how our parents used to bring us to this festival for rides, yummy bites and just to soak in all the festive grandeur?
The River Hongbao has been an iconic annual Lunar New Year celebration since 1987 and this year, it’s back bigger, better, stronger with a Bicentennial Edition.
According to Mr Ang Wei Neng, chairman of this year’s River Hongbao organising committee, they have “pulled out all the stops to make it a stand-out celebration.”
Visitors can be expected to be astounded by the larger-than-life lanterns depicting figures of Chinese myth and legend, handcrafted onsite by craftsmen from China. This includes crowd favourites such as the God of Fortune, 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, an “instagrammable” peacock lantern, as well as an entrance walkway with running lights.
There will also be an interactive exhibition in a junk boat, which showcases 700 years of Singapore’s history. Curated by the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and the Singapore Bicentennial Office, the exhibition features a three-minute animation tracing Singapore’s history from 1820 to 1920.
Also not to be missed is the wishing well in the shape of Suntec City’s Fountain of Wealth.
More importantly, the Fireworks Spectacular display will last for a good 12 minutes (the longest so far at River Hongbao) and will feature works by award-winning artists from Australia, China, Italy and the United States. Each of them will have a very distinct theme to create the ultimate fireworks experience of pyrotechnic art, colours, lights and sounds.
For those who plan to go just for the food (I mean, we are Singaporeans after all), you can expect to feast on traditional snacks such as Dragon Beard Candy as well as an international offering such as Curry Fishball and Takoyaki.
River Hongbao 2019 will be held at The Float @ Marina Bay from Feb 3 to Feb 10, daily from 2pm to 11pm. Opening hours will be extended to 1am on Chinese New Year’s Eve on Feb 4.
The fireworks display will take place on Feb 3, 4, 9 and 10.
Admission is free.