This year, the Festival takes place from April 4 to 8, 2025 with the theme "Preserving and promoting the value of Southern folk cakes" at Binh Thuy district square, with many diverse activities for visitors to visit and experience.

Speaking with Can Tho Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Minh Tuan, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Can Tho City, Deputy Head of the Festival Organizing Committee, informed:

- The festival is one of the activities to celebrate the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day (10th day of the third lunar month) and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025). This is the 12th year the festival has taken place, gradually contributing to promoting, developing the value and positioning the brand of Southern folk cakes.

This year's festival has a number of main activities: The opening ceremony takes place at 7 p.m. on April 4, broadcast live on Can Tho City Radio and Television; Hung King's Commemoration Ceremony and Cake Offering Ceremony; Southern Traditional Cake Competition. In addition, there are many outstanding activities: Banh Xeo promotion, introducing the largest Banh Chung in the Mekong Delta, parade of traditional Vietnamese costumes (Viet Phuc) from Hung King Temple to the Festival space, booths promoting traditional cakes, regional specialties, folk cake making performances and visitors experiencing cake making, art programs serving visitors, competition area and exhibition of ornamental plants...

Banh Xeo display at the 2024 Festival. Photo: KIEU MAI

* Could you please tell us more about the scale and new features of this year's Festival activities?

- This year's festival has 231 booths from 18 provinces and cities across the country, such as Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, An Giang, Ha Tinh, Hue, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Dak Lak... In which, the Organizing Committee organizes 4 main areas: Traditional cake space, Regional specialty space, Culinary space and Ornamental flower display space. The new point this year is that we have added the Ornamental Plants Exhibition and Competition area. It is expected that there will be more than 50 works displayed here from the Ornamental Plants and Bonsai Competition and Exhibition organized by the Department of Agriculture and Environment.

In 2024, the demonstration of Thuan Hung rice paper village (recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2023), performed by artisans from the 100-year-old craft village in Thot Not, attracted a large number of visitors to visit and experience. This year, we continue to maintain this space, and at the same time have an area to guide the making of some traditional cakes such as banh it, banh tet, banh kep, banh phu linh, banh tam se tay... so that visitors can learn and learn how to make traditional cakes with specific instructions from artisans.

* In order to contribute to preserving and promoting the value of Southern folk cakes, what conditions has the Festival Organizing Committee created for artisans, sir?

- Within the framework of the Festival, the Southern Traditional Cake Competition is a highlight, creating conditions for many artisans to promote and preserve traditional crafts. Through the competitions, many artisans have made their names as well as many unique traditional cakes, which were lost and little known, have gradually been restored, such as Can Tho rice vermicelli, Soc Trang rice cake, Tien Giang rice cake... Step by step, the competition has created a useful playground for artisans to exchange, learn, share experiences, and at the same time create more unique cakes suitable for the international integration process.

This year's competition gathered 44 teams from 23 units of 13 provinces and cities: Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Soc Trang, An Giang, Hau Giang, Tra Vinh, Bac Lieu and Ho Chi Minh City, along with 10 units from Can Tho City.

In addition, to create conditions for many artisans to participate in the Festival and create more traditional cakes and new cuisines, this year the Organizing Committee has reduced the rental fee for the traditional cake booth by 25% compared to 2024.

* Festivals are usually very crowded, especially with food festivals, so how is the safety of visitors organized, sir?

- We coordinate with relevant departments to establish many subcommittees to assist with security and order to ensure security and order, food safety and hygiene, and environmental sanitation. Specifically, we organize training sessions on fire prevention and fighting, food safety and hygiene. The Security and Order Subcommittee alone plans to arrange more than 300 people to be on duty throughout the Festival.

In addition, the Organizing Committee also requires participating businesses to list prices and sell at the right price; at the same time, promote cultural and civilized behavior in tourism in buying and selling, introducing products to create a good impression for people and tourists participating in the festival. The Organizing Committee also coordinates with businesses to stimulate tourism, with a reduction of 10-25% in accommodation, travel, transportation, tourist attractions, etc. to contribute to creating conditions to attract tourists to the Festival and Can Tho.

* Thank you!

AI LAM (performed)

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/phat-huy-gia-tri-banh-dan-gian-nam-bo-trong-doi-song-hien-dai-a185046.html