City Festival Takes Over Downtown Denpasar

Denpasar, Indonesia - Denpasar kicked off a four-day city festival on Tuesday, in anticipation of the usual surge of visitors to Bali for the year-end festive period.

Denpasar’s deputy mayor, Ida Bagus Rai Dharmawijaya Mantra, opened the festival by presenting organizers a leather wayang puppet on a stage erected near the Catur Muka statue in the city’s center.

The opening day also featured a cultural parade with some 6,900 participants. Among those taking part were religious groups and performers involved in traditional and modern arts.

“We want to uphold the position of Denpasar as a city with strong traditional elements and a multicultural environment,” Rai Mantra said.

City authorities have earmarked Rp 120 million ($13,000) from the 2010 budget to fund the third annual festival.

This year’s festival, with the theme “Buana Citra Kara,” is a celebration of creativity and artistic performance.

Rai Mantra said the event was held at the end of the year to coincide with the island’s peak tourism period.

Putu Budiasa, head of the city’s tourism office, said the festival was “an asset for the city as well as a trigger for the development of Denpasar as a destination for tourism.”

The event is being held at three sites and features a total of 272 stands offering a variety of foods and goods. The sites are Puputan Badung Square, the area around the Catur Muka statue and the city’s main commercial street, Jalan Gajah Mada, all in downtown Denpasar.

The festival also includes a culinary fair and the Denpasar Floricultural exhibition. It is being held concurrently with the Denpasar Great Sale, an annual event involving businesses and shops in the city.

The festival will conclude on Friday, New Year’s Eve, with an event called “Releasing the Sun of 2010.”

Traditional and modern dance and music performances will highlight the final day of the festival.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com
Photo: http://www.journalbali.com

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