Crowds Flock To Phuket Street Festival

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Crowds flock to Phuket Street Festival

An acrobat performs at the Phuket Street Show Festival opening

ceremony yesterday.

Phuket Officials and event organizers were on hand to start off

the first-ever Phuket Street Show Festival.

PHUKET: -- The 2010 Phuket Street Show Festival kicked off yesterday evening on a packed Thalang Road with energetic performances by aerial acrobats from Bencha Theater Group.

Some of the world’s best street performers have descended on Phuket Town this weekend for the event, which is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

The festivities, taking place in the old quarter of Phuket Town and running until Sunday, boast a stellar line-up including 23 acts from nine different countries.

There is something for everybody over the weekend, including music, magic, comedy, pantomime, puppetry, stilt walking, trapeze, balloon modeling, clowning, acrobatics, physical theater, unicycle, dancing and juggling.

The shows are being performed on six separate stages along Thalang Road and part of Krabi Road, while other acts are on Thepkrasattri/Phuket Road from the Dibuk Road intersection to Phang Nga Road.

The highlight tonight will be the performance of renowned street artists Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, better known as The Acrobuffos, who bill themselves as “laughmakers, street players and knockabout philosophers”.

Other must-see shows tonight include another gravity-defying acrobatic show from Bencha Theater, the traditional circus of Korean comedy duo Funniest, and Brazilian BMX street performer James.

All of the mentioned performers will also be strutting their stuff on Sunday alongside a host of other acts.

Speaking at the opening ceremony TAT Events Department Director Wiwatchai Boonyapak explained why Phuket was chosen for the Street Show Festival.

“We chose Phuket to host this festival because it’s a main tourism destination. We would like to send a message to the world that the tourism season has started. And after all the recent storm and flooding in the South, we would like to give local people and tourists a smile and laugh.”

-- Phuket Gazette 2010-12-18