The second "Taichung Picnic Day" is back! Picnic Day has become a city brand representing Taichung and a part of citizens' lives. Deputy Mayor Guo-Rong Huang hosted the Picnic Day press conference today (20th) at the Municipal Park to embody the picnic scene on the green grass. Deputy Mayor Huang reminded that this picnic day will be held simultaneously in Central Park, Huludun Park, Aofengshan Park, and Pinglin Forest Park. The activities are free, and no registration is required. The organizers on site are planning different activities more intensively and welcome the public to "share a picnic time with your dear person(s)on November 26th!"

According to Deputy Mayor Huang, the picnic day activity area combines the park's landscape features and plans different themed activities for the public to enjoy. The entire campaign is free to participate in. The central theme of this year's event is "dear person(s)." Welcome citizens to bring picnic mats and invite their "dearest ones" to spend a leisurely weekend holiday on the park grass and have a relaxing trip. He also called on citizens to carry environmentally friendly tableware to implement the concept of keeping garbage on the ground.

Deputy Mayor Huang indicated that Picnic Day received a great response when the city government held it last year. The public participated enthusiastically and expressed their hoped for the government to make it an annual event. Therefore, this year, the city government decided to expand the management and invite the Construction Bureau, Tourism and Travel Bureau, Environmental Protection Bureau, and Agriculture Bureau to co-sponsor the event. The 2023 "Taichung Picnic Day" was initially scheduled for May 7 but was postponed because of weather factors. It will be held simultaneously on November 26 at Central Park, Huludun Park, Aofengshan Park, and Pinglin Forest Park. The city government hopes to use the four attractive parks as a series of activities to promote and experience the beautiful park landscapes of mountains, seas, villages, and unbans and to introduce the public to the park characteristics of various districts in Taichung City. Allow citizens to have fun and enjoy green spaces in their spare time.

Furthermore, the event will feature the highly acclaimed bookmobile and a music performance area for street artists, which received high praise last year. The city government has also planned a "Fur Friend's Picnic Area" to allow the public to bring their beloved fur friends together, allowing breeders to communicate and have fun with each other. Also, each venue's pet clinic next to the Fur Friend's Picnic Area will provide fur friends' medical checkup services. Welcome people to enjoy listening to light music in the park with their families, friends, and fur friends. Leave their rare memories and create a sense of urban happiness.

Today's press conference invited children to join their parents for a picnic, encouraging them to share food and enjoy interactive activities for a fantastic bonding experience. Moreover, the Director of the Construction Bureau Da-Tian Chen, the Director of the Tourism and Travel Bureau Mei-Xiu Chen, the Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau Zheng-Liang Chen, and the Deputy Director of the Agriculture Bureau Yong-Sheng Tsai canvassed for votes on the spot. They seemed to be vigorously marketing through the municipal shopping mall and warmly invited the public to go to attractive parks they hosted for a picnic that day, and the scene was full of laughter. Deputy Mayor Huang also urged citizens and friends to spread the event information widely and gather at the attractive parks, rain or shine, for a sunny and leisurely holiday.

Mei-Xiu Chen, the Director of the Tourism and Travel Bureau, explained that Huludun Park in Fengyuan, the mountain line, was designated as "Mountain Picnic Day," welcoming people to outdoor camping. Zheng-Liang Chen, the Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau, emphasized challenging the concept of environmental protection and creating a "green forest life without trace" in Aofengshan Park on the sea line. He welcomes people to go by electric car or public transport and bring their shopping bags, fresh-keeping boxes, and environmentally-friendly cups. Yong-Sheng Tsai, the Deputy Director of the Agriculture Bureau, said that in the Pinglin Forest Park in the village areas, they would gather everyone's beloved fur friends' zone, pet medical checkup services, and picnic mat arrangement activities on that day, which would be terrific.

Da-Tian Chen, the Director of the Construction Bureau, explained that the bureau has chosen to host the picnic activity in Central Park, the largest urban park in the country's metropolitan areas. The activity plan has five major theme areas, including a parent-child travel area, leisure picnic area, old tree reading area, scenic picnic area, and flying picnic area. The bureau has also launched a particular version of the Central Park Guide App for Picnic Day to help citizens "picnic without getting lost" at their fingertips. Besides, people can get small gifts when they take photos of the beautiful scenery and check in.

Director Chen emphasized that this event continues the low-carbon, sustainable, and environmentally friendly spirit of last year's inaugural event, progressing toward the SDGs' "2050 net-zero carbon emissions" goal. Therefore, the whole process is low-carbon, environmentally friendly, resource recycling and reuse, avoiding the use of disposable tableware, and using public transportation to reduce carbon emissions, etc., to create a green, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly Picnic Day with Taichung characteristics. The site also plans to rent ecologically friendly tableware and recycle PET bottles to be used in the production of picnic mats for the next session. The bureau urges the public to support low-carbon environmental protection, cherish the earth, pack on-site waste, and take it away to minimize garbage generation.

Furthermore, the city government's limited edition picnic mat giveaway has been fully allocated upon registration for the picnic day in April. They include 1,500 sets in Central Park and 600 in mountain, sea, and village areas. The city government has notified those people who successfully registered the limited edition picnic mats via email to get the mats on the event day. The event is free and welcomes the public to participate actively. They can also bring their picnic mat to have fun together. The city government also reminds participating citizens and friends to respond to the SDGs' "2050 net zero carbon emissions" goal and the concept of low-carbon, environmentally friendly, and loving the Earth, reducing the generation of disposable waste. And suggest the public take more public transportation to picnic.

At today’s event, City Councilor Shi-Zhou Liu, the Director of the Construction Bureau Da-Tian Chen, the Director of the Tourism and Travel Bureau Mei-Xiu Chen, the Director of the Education Bureau, Wei-Min Jiang, the Director of Cultural Affairs Bureau Jia-Jun Chen, the Director of Finance Bureau Li-Ling You, Director of Local Tax Burau Shen Zheng-An Shen, the Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau Zheng-Liang Chen, the Deputy Director of the Agriculture Bureau Yong-Sheng Tsai, Xitun District Chief Bao-Yun Chen, representatives from various bureaus, and local villages chiefs were all present. City Councilor Xin-Hui Huang also sent people to participate in the grand event.