Taichung International Flower Carpet Festival has been moved to Huatien Green Park, Houli this year, and will be held starting on the 24th of this month till January 8th of next year during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Based on the theme “Flowers in New Theme Park”, the overall 22 hectares of exhibition area for Huatien Green Park and Plant Nursery Ecological Area of Houli are divided into Four Highlighted Areas, Ten Thematic Areas and Themed Flower Carpets…etc. Moreover, the first dynamic floral art installation in Taiwan - the “Carousel Rhapsody” is created, making one look forward to the resplendence of the event. The Transportation Bureau will conduct traffic control and arrange 5 main shuttle bus routes, differentiated using th3 5 colors of yellow, green, red, blue and purple, so that whatever color you rode to the exhibition site, you will then ride on that color back to the parking lot, hoping to encourage more people in taking the shuttle buses to admire the flowers.

In the past, the Flower Carpet Festival used to be held together with Xinshe Flower Sea Festival, causing sever burden on the traffic of Xinshe and other regions in Shancheng. The city government hence moved the “2016 Taichung International Flower Caret Festival” from Xinshe to Houli, so as to avoid crowded visitors, as well as to act as a warm up for 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition.

Mayor Chia-Lung Lin indicated that the location for the Flower Carpet Festival is very unique, as it used to be a landfill, and was renovated to become the “Huatien Green Park”, which is as beautiful as a garden, creating the “Flowers in New Theme Park” together with the theme of Taiwanese Leopard Cat, turning it into the ideal venue for ecological tour. Flowers produced in the vicinity including lilies, dancing lady orchids, flamingo flowers and sword lilies are all of the best quality in Taiwan. We hereby invite the public to visit Taichung during the period when flowers flourish, starting from Christmas Eve till January 8th after the New Year.

Mayor Lin reminded everyone that since the event venue is nearby the riverbank, everyone should make use of the free shuttle buses to enter the exhibition site due to the narrow road condition.

The Tourism Bureau indicated that the main flower carpet “Carousel Rhapsody” is a gigantic dynamic merry-go-round with a diameter of 30m and a height of 8m built using beautiful flowers, local animals including leopard cats, horses, Taiwan Black Bears and alpacas are on the merry-go-round, which will rotates along with the music every hour and every half an hour. The event exhibition site is also setup with “Christmas Garden”, blending in the elements of Christmas to the floral art. Moreover, 13 mascot leopard cats designed using flowers can also be seen in the exhibition area, and there is also a 800m long maze built using sunflowers and recycled wood panels in the pattern of leopard cat palm, offering a load of fun.

In order to reduce traffic impact on the peripheral roads of the Flower Carpet Festival, a traffic control plan will be implemented during the event period, hoping the public can make good use of public transportations to admire the flowers. During the event period, the Transportation Bureau has arranged free shuttle bus routes for “Fengyuan Station”, “Houli Station”, “Central Taiwan Science Park to Machang Parking Space” and “Lihpao Land”, as well as an additional bus for “Fongjhou Phase I Parking Lot” on holidays, which are categorized into 5 colors of yellow, green, red, blue and purple ; whatever color you rode on to the exhibition venue, you will then ride on that color back to the parking lot, making it extremely convenient for identification.

The Tourism Bureau also stressed that active plans are conducted prior to the event, and in order to ensure constructional safety and quality, Huatien Green Park is already under control with the park been closed, and will only be officially open to the public as of the 24th. Therefore, everyone is reminded not to go beforehand to avoid been shut outside. For event details, please refer to the official event website for “2016 Taichung International Flower Carpet Festival” at http://flowercarpet.com.tw/.