By Christine T
KUCHING, Sept 22: Kuching South City Council (MBKS) is bringing this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations closer to residents through three community events at Kenyalang Traffic Garden, Hui Sing Recreation Park, and Taman Sahabat (Friendship Park).
MBKS Mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said the celebrations were designed to encourage families, senior citizens, and the youth to come together in their neighbourhoods while making greater use of public spaces.
“Instead of asking people to come to one central location, we are bringing the programmes into the neighbourhood,” Wee said during a press conference at the MBKS meeting room today.
He said the Mid-Autumn Festival was about more than mooncakes and lanterns, as it also represented reunion, togetherness, and family.
At Kenyalang Traffic Garden, the celebration will be held on Sept 24 and 25 from 6.30pm to 10.30pm, featuring food stalls, live performances, clown shows, balloon giveaways, free lanterns, and mooncakes while stocks last.
A special attraction will be children’s electric go-kart activities, which Wee said would fit the concept of the Traffic Garden.
“It’s not a race. We want our children to enjoy themselves while families rediscover and make use of our public space together,” he said.
Meanwhile, the celebration at Hui Sing Recreation Park will take place on Sept 25 from 6pm to 9pm, featuring free lanterns and mooncakes, game stations, lantern riders, a wishing wall, and live performances.
Wee said the neighbourhood-based celebration would let residents celebrate closer to home while encouraging them to meet their neighbours and use the public park.
The third programme, ‘Moon in 2.0’, is being held at Taman Sahabat from Sept 17 to 27, from 4pm to 11pm.
The programme takes a more contemporary approach, particularly to appeal to younger people. It includes a projected story and an immersive, themed experience on the second floor of the Chawan Building on selected dates.
Wee said the three locations offer different programmes but share the same purpose: bringing people together.
“A park should not only be somewhere where we go for jogging and exercise; it should be a place where the community meets, where children have happy memories, where senior citizens feel comfortable coming out, and where neighbours get to know each other,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of introducing younger generations to traditional celebrations, saying festivals should not become something children only encounter through social media.
At the same time, Wee said the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations organised in Kuching South were open to everyone regardless of race.
“Although the Mooncake Festival has its roots in Chinese culture, our celebration in Kuching South is open to everyone, to all races,” he said, adding that celebrating different festivals together was part of Kuching’s multicultural character.
Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap, who was also present, said the Hui Sing event reflected the Sarawak government’s social inclusivity policy by bringing the community together.
He thanked MBKS for choosing Hui Sing Recreation Park as one of the venues and hoped the event would continue next year.
“Let us make this Mid-Autumn Festival not just a celebration, but an opportunity to bring our communities close together. One moon, three locations, one Kuching South community,” he said. — DayakDaily
