SINGAPORE - About 33,000 people were dazzled by Chingay Parade 2024, which came to a close on Feb 24 in an explosion of colours at the F1 Pit Building.
In line with 2024’s theme of Blossom, floral elements featured as the main motif for the parade’s six acts to showcase Singapore’s culture and traditions.
About 3,500 local and international performers took part. The attractions included 17 community-made floats, five Chingay large floats and, for the first time, a 230m interactive floor projection – Singapore’s longest for a street parade.
In the first act, young people in costumes shaped after national flower Vanda Miss Joaquim danced to a rock version of the parade’s theme song.
Oher acts involved children dancing, biking and performing martial arts, and performers from Japan, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.
“It just gets better each year. I felt so proud to be a true Singaporean,” said Ms Carolyn Pan, 43, an assistant director of marketing communications of a hotel group. “My mum almost cried tears of joy and my daughter was truly amazed.”
Ms Pan said she went to the parade to relive her experience of participating in the Chingay Parade in 2012 and to support one of the float artistes.
Polytechnic student William Lim, 23, found the parade exciting because he could feel the atmosphere and even the heat from the flames, which he would not be able to do watching the parade on television.
Mr Lim, who is studying for a diploma in infocomm and media engineering at Nanyang Polytechnic, highlighted the lighting projection on the floor as special and engaging, especially when he saw how spectators could react to the projection by shouting “Chingay!”.
Ms Esther Tan, 22, an arts freelancer, said: “It was my first time attending it in person after years of watching it on television. I was pleasantly surprised by how exciting, dynamic and full of visual and sensory stimuli it was.”
On Feb 24, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his spouse, Ms Jane Ittogi, graced the event. President Tharman was attending Chingay for the first time as president.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had opened the parade to cheers as he wished the crowd good health in the Year of the Dragon.
Chingay began in 1973 as a street parade to hype up the Chinese New Year festivities after firecrackers were banned. Over the years, it has evolved into Singapore’s biggest multicultural celebration.
The public can now look forward to the Chingay@Heartlands celebrations, which will bring the Chingay floats and performances to five heartland estates over several weekends from Feb 25.
For more information, visit https://www.chingay.gov.sg
