The fair will be held at its traditional site, at Saphan Hin, from from Dec 29 to Jan 9, Aimon Iwsakul of the Phuket Red Cross confirmed to The Phuket News.
“A townhouse unit at the i-Leaf Prime residential estate in Thalang is the top prize in the lucky draw this year,” said Ms Aimon.
The home is unit 163/3 in the housing estate in Srisoonthorn (see map below) and is valued at B2.29mn,” Ms Aimon said.
Second prize in the lucky draw is a Toyota Yaris ATIV 1.2 j valued at about B700,000, while up for grabs as the “third-place” prizes are two Honda Wave 110i motorcycles.
The “fourth-place” prizes are three gold necklaces valued at about B21,000 each, with 30 gold necklaces valued at about B5,400 each as the “fifth-placed” prizes.
Other prizes to be won at the fair include electrical appliances and other household items.
“The main draw for the top prize will be held at the center stage area at Saphan Hin at 10pm on Jan 9,” Ms Aimon confirmed.
The annual Red Cross Fair has long been the most popular Thai fair in Phuket, held at Saphan Hin for more than two decades.
In addition to the fund-raising lucky draws, the 12-day fair features hundreds of local stalls selling a variety of hand-crafted goods and other items, and every night live entertainment, including performances by some of Thailand’s top singers and celebrities.
REBRANDED
In recent years the name of the fair has been changed to promote the Thai-made products sold at the fair instead of the funds raised through the lucky draw. The funds raised are used to carry out local Red Cross community projects across the island and to support flood and drought disaster victims elsewhere in Thailand.
This year the fair will officially be called the Kong Dee Phuket Fair (“Good Phuket Products Fair”).
Last year no official name was bestowed – allowing people to again call it the Red Cross Fair after the debacle the year before when it was given the official name “Phuket Brand Phuket Best Festival” by order of provincial officials. (See story here.)
The year’s rebranding of the fair was confirmed by Sittinee Tavipatana at a meeting of the fair’s organising committee late last month. Ms Sittinee, as the incumbent Phuket Governor’s wife, is the current President of the Phuket Chapter of the Thai Red Cross.
The meeting was held to discuss activities to be held as part of the fair, including the sale of lucky draw tickets, contests, performances on stage and exhibitions of the Red Cross’s community projects.
Recognising the ongoing issue, Ms Sittinee also noted that the meeting was to review the activities of of Phuket Red Cross in the fiscal year 2019 and to “clarify the problems, obstacles and solutions in the past year”.
In addition, the budget for the year 2019 has been approved for Red Cross’s development projects in Phuket, and the Red Cross committee for the year 2020 was appointed.
OUTREACH
The meeting came as Ms Sittinee along with other Phuket Red Cross members – and Kitti Intharakul, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Social Development and Human Security Office – on Oct 22 visited poor residents in parts of Rassada to hear firsthand the problems they faced in day-to-day life, and to offer them items of food and consumer goods.
The visiting relegation also questioned the poor residents about their quality of life and discussed issues of health and hygiene.
“We will follow up and assist people who are experiencing social problems by giving advice on various matters, especially in terms of work and ways to increase their income so they can pay for expenses to care for childcare and their families,” Mr Kitti said.
“We will continuously monitor such people in need so that we can keep helping them to have a better quality of life,” Mr Kitti added.