The Suoi Tien Tourist Park in District 9 received more than 10,000guests on June 1, the first day of the 2015 Southern Fruit Festival.

Visitors,who were mostly residents of HCM City and neighboring provinces andcities, brought their children to celebrate the day, which was alsoInternational Children's Day.

The highlight of the festival was afloating fruit market, selling more than 150 kinds of fruit at prices20-40 percent cheaper than the market price.

The boats wereloaded with fruits from famous brands, including Hoang Gia pomelo (VinhLong province), Tan Trieu pomelo (Bien Hoa city), Hoang Hau dragonfruit(Long An province), Luc Ngan lychee (Bac Giang province), Cai Mon durian(Ben Tre province), Vinh Kim guava (Tien Giang province), and others.

Thefestival also included an area displaying fruits that satisfy VietGapand Global Gap standards, a giant and rare fruit collection including a50kg-waxy pumpkin, 4kg pomelo, black tomatoes, violet mango, violet cornand violet longan.

The contest on craft fruit art and Southern delicious and safe fruit contest were key activities of the festival.

Theorganisers said they received 600 craft fruit artworks and items from1,000 farmer households from 21 cities and provinces. Visitors alsocould enjoy dishes made with fruit.

Other activities included anonline photo contest Suoi Tien Colours and many folk games such as fishfighting, dropping balls into a crossword, throwing cans and tug of war.

Domesticand international art troupes from India, the Republic of Korea,Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos will performtraditional dances during the 20 days of the festival.

Thefloating fruit market will run until late August. Children visiting ingroups will receive tickets with a 50 percent discount.

Begun in2004, the annual festival has become a popular cultural tourism event,honouring the agricultural values of Vietnam and the southern region inparticular.-VNA