FEHD’s Lunar New Year fairs concluded successfully (with photos)

     The 2024 Lunar New Year (LNY) fairs concluded successfully at 7am today (February 10). The fairs were held at 15 locations for seven days from February 4, attracting about two million visitors. Yesterday (February 9) was the peak, with more than 200 000 visitors in the LNY Fair at Victoria Park on a single day.

     A spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) said that, with the society returned to normalcy in full, the department is pleased to resume the provision of dry goods and fast food stalls in the LNY fairs this year, and would like to thank the stall vendors for co-operating with the management measures to keep the fair sites clean and in a safe and orderly manner. The department is even more pleased to see members of the public actively support and enjoy the fairs which operation has been smooth in general with normal power supply.

     This year, the FEHD has applied innovation and technology measures to monitor the venues for implementation of crowd control when necessary. The footfall of individual LNY fairs was displayed on the FEHD website with a view to enabling the public to know about the crowds at the fair early. The FEHD has also offered assistance to stall vendors in various aspects such as security, illumination and refuse collection to ensure the smooth running of the LNY fairs.

     The department adopted various waste reduction and recycling measures. Apart from collecting general recyclables including waste paper, plastics and metals in the fairs, the department also arranged for contractors to collect bamboo sticks, wooden pallets, polyfoam and wilted or unsold flowers with reusable value. From opening of the LNY fair sites up to the site clearance operation today, about 110 tonnes of materials with reusable value were collected in the 15 LNY fair sites in order to enhance recycling of resources. Furthermore, food waste recycling is practised in the LNY fairs with fast food stalls.

     Moreover, the FEHD also gathered some 1 726 unsold pots of flowers and plants donated by vendors in the fairs. They were delivered to 223 elderly homes/residential care homes for persons with disabilities and two public hospitals by 23 volunteer teams made up of FEHD staff.

     With the LNY fairs concluded successfully, the department deployed 228 staff members and 50 refuse collection vehicles and street washing vehicles to clean up the Victoria Park venue. The other 14 LNY fair sites were cleaned up by the department's cleansing contractors. All site clearance work was completed at about 7pm. After thorough cleaning, the venues were restored to their original state.

     Despite the conclusion of LNY fairs, the Che Kung Festival Fair and the Fong Ma Po New Year Fair at Lam Tsuen in Tai Po will be held until February 24. The spokesman reminded members of the public planning to visit the two fairs that they may browse information including the opening hours and visitor flow of the fairs at the FEHD's webpage in advance.