Thousands of people flocked to Dong Thap Province in Vietnam's Mekong Delta region on Wednesday night to take part in the opening ceremony of a spectacular mango festival which will run until Friday this week.

The People’s Committee of Cao Lanh City, the capital of Dong Thap, on Wednesday night inaugurated the first-ever 'Cao Lanh Mango Festival 2022,' attracting thousands of tourists.

On its first night, the festival grounds were filled with visitors, including hundreds of women donning Vietnamese ao dai – a traditional dress – and taking photos with mango backgrounds.

The festival features a variety of specialty mangoes from Dong Thap Province.

Visitors to the festival said that they saw the event as an opportunity to share the country’s mangoes with the world.  

The fest is aimed at marketing mango products and introducing Cao Lanh mangoes to consumers both inside and outside the province through a variety of activities, including the launch of a mango association under the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association; an area for displaying, introducing, and promoting the Cao Lanh mangoes as well as a myriad of other mangoes and mango products; and a connection area for e-commerce enterprises.

Contests and workshops are also a notable part of the program.

Some of these events include a mango delicacy competition, a ceremony to commemorate mango farmers and artisans, and a conference on developing mango product chains.

At the opening ceremony, Vo Phan Thanh Minh, chairman of the Cao Lanh People’s Committee, stated that the city and a separate namesake district account for 60 percent of the province's mango cultivation area, with an annual output of 70,000 tonnes of mango exported to Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Australia, China, and Europe.

Locals currently process the fruit into many products, including chewy dried mango, mango rice paper, mango wine, and mango candy.

Some of them have been certified as meeting either three- or four-star OCOP (One Commune, One Product) standard.

“The Cao Lanh Mango Festival is expected to form ties between farmers and enterprises, a vital link in the restructuring of the mango sector in Dong Thap, thereby elevating the status of Cao Lanh mangoes,” Minh remarked.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!