The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Vancouver organized the 4th Thai Festival in Vancouver at the North Plaza of Vancouver Art Gallery between 22-23 July 2017. Ms. Sutthiluck Sa-ngarmangkang, Consul-General of Thailand to Vancouver, delivered the opening speech to declare open the Festival with Congratulatory speeches from the Honorable Bruce Ralston, Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology, Mr. Raj Chouhan, MLA Burnaby-Edmonds, Mr. Raymond Louie, Acting Mayor of Vancouver, Mr. Chak Au, Acting Mayor of Richmond, Deputy Chief Constable Laurence Rankin, and Ms. Erin Shum, Vancouver Park Board Vice Chair.
In addition to show casing Thai culture, products and services among the Canadian and foreign public in Vancouver and nearby cities, this year Thai Festival also aimed to join our Canadian friends in the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Canada. In this connection, the Royal Thai Consulate-General had invited Phattayakul Thai Music and Drama School, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Thailand, to present Thai classical dances and Thai music instrument performances, as well as Rajamangala University of Technology Pranakhon to demonstrate how to prepare Thai cuisine and Thai arts of fruit and vegetable carving. Other activities on stage included presentation of Thai Select certificates to guarantee the authenticity of Thai taste and standard issued by Thai Trade Centre in Vancouver, Thai Fits exercise, Thai choral and musical instrument performance as well as Thai fashion show by Thai community in Vancouver, question and answer session on Thailand, etc.
At the Festival, one could find numerous information booths on Thai trade, investment and tourism, and Thai agricultural products by members of various Team Thailand offices, namely Thai Trade Centre in Vancouver, Office of Agriculture Affairs (Washington D.C.), Board of Investment of Thailand (New York), and Tourism Authority of Thailand (New York). There were also various booths of popular Thai restaurants, Thai imported products, Thai massage and spa. This year Thai Festival was attended and enjoyed by more than 35,000 participants. At present, Thai Festival in Vancouver has fully become one of the biggest and most popular annual events in Vancouver.
