In short, the Phuket Gastronomy Fair will be held as part of the Phuket Brand Phuket Best Fair 2019, which will be held at Saphan Hin from Dec 27 to Jan 6 – which is exactly where the annual Phuket Red Cross Fair will be held on exactly the same dates.
Only early last month the Phuket Red Cross Fair was announced as returning to Saphan Hin this year, after it was cancelled without any public announcement last year, causing much consternation among local residents. (See story here.)
Oddly, at the meeting on Wednesday held to discuss the Phuket Gastronomy Fair and the Phuket Brand Phuket Best Fair, no mention of the Red Cross Fair was made.
Present at the meeting, held at the Phuket Provincial Community Development Office, was Community Development Office Phuket Chief Kitiphol Vejchagun, Phuket Provincial Agriculture and Cooperatives Office Chief Chalart Kaewkhaw, as well as the heads of many government agencies on the island whose offices will be involved in the conflux of fairs.
Regardless, Vice Governor Thanyawat Chanpinit ordered officials to ensure their offices made sure the fairs went ahead in line with the official aims given:
“In this event there will be activities and shows about agricultural product processing, fishery processing, livestock processing, local food product, local products, local goods under the name the Phuket Brand and products under the name Pracharath Rak Samakkee (Thailand) Co Ltd,” he said.
Pracharath Rak Samakkee (Thailand) Co Ltd is the state enterprise created under the administration of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to promote locally produced goods and services.
“There will also be contests for fruits, vegetables and native animals,” V/Gov Thanyawat said.
The Phuket Brand Phuket Best Festival 2019 has also been given the nickname “Kong Dee Phuket 2562”, which means, at this stage, any person looking to visit Saphan Hin to enjoy the festivities over the New Year holidays will have the luxury of saying they are attending whichever of the three – or four – festivals they say they are going to.