Da Lat Flower Festival 2007: Honouring Flower Growers
Held from December 15 to 22, 2007, the second Da Lat Flower Festival reaffirmed the flower’s place in local culture and economic life. Under the theme “Da Lat Flowers, I Love You”, the festival placed greater emphasis on flower growers, traditional flower villages and the distinctive values that define the City of Flowers, while promoting integration and the development of the Da Lat flower brand.
Bringing Flower Growers to the Heart of the Festival
While the first Da Lat Flower Festival in 2005 laid the foundation for the event’s identity, the second edition in 2007 continued to build on local strengths, linking cultural and artistic activities with flower cultivation and tourism development.
With 19 main programmes spread over eight days, the festival attracted approximately 110,000 visits. Beyond showcasing the beauty of Da Lat’s flowers, the event helped promote the region’s cultural and economic values, as well as the daily life in the Central Highlands.
A key focus of the festival was its recognition of flower growers and traditional flower-growing villages, including Ha Dong, Van Thanh, Xuan Tho, Da Thien, Thai Phien and An Son. These places are closely associated with the formation and development of the local flower-growing industry and have helped establish Da Lat’s reputation as a centre of floriculture.
Alongside its tribute to the people behind the blooms, the festival expanded opportunities for cultural exchange, trade promotion and the introduction of new production technologies. The flower exhibition and trade fair at Da Lat Flower Park brought together representatives from 24 provinces and cities, 90 domestic businesses and 10 foreign companies from the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Belgium, Thailand and China.
In addition to floral products, the exhibition presented technologies such as tissue-culture propagation and modern drip-irrigation systems. These displays gave businesses opportunities to explore new technologies, seek partnerships and promote investment in the flower industry.
The festive atmosphere continued into the “Flowers and Lights” Street Festival, featuring more than 100 gong artisans, 500 performers and flower-decorated parade vehicles showcasing flower varieties associated with Da Lat.
The festival also set eight Vietnamese records. Highlights included the 42-metre-long “Pink Stream” wedding dress, a 78-metre-long wedding photograph, a wooden wine barrel with a capacity of 2,000 litres, and a pair of dragon-and-phoenix wedding lanterns weighing 2.7 tonnes.
Cultural, culinary and sporting activities further enriched the programme. These included the Tea, Flowers and Wine Culinary Fair, the “Wine Memories” event at Da Lat Railway Station, the Three Regions’ Variety Performers Night and the Vietnam–Japan Marathon.
From exhibitions and business exchanges to artistic performances, the second Da Lat Flower Festival demonstrated an effort to bring cultural values into closer dialogue with economic activity and tourism. Flower growers, traditional craft communities and businesses were not merely subjects of the festival’s displays; they were active contributors to its vitality.
A Floral Wedding for 114 Couples: A Celebration of the City of Love
Among the events at the 2007 Da Lat Flower Festival, the “Floral Wedding” for 114 couples stood out as a particularly meaningful highlight. More than adding a romantic touch to the festivities, the programme connected the love stories of individual couples with Da Lat’s image and history of development.
The idea of organising a mass wedding for 114 couples was inspired by the city’s 114-year history, from 1893 to 2007. By bringing a personal milestone into a broader historical context, the programme created a distinctive event within the festival.
The wedding ceremony took place at Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel, now known as Dalat Palace. The couples came from various provinces and cities across Vietnam, alongside international visitors, creating a memorable scene amid the flower-filled celebrations. A procession through flower-decorated streets further reinforced Da Lat’s image as a city associated with love and romance.
What made the “Floral Wedding” particularly notable was its transformation of a personal occasion into a shared community experience. The couples’ happiness unfolded in a festive public setting, witnessed and celebrated by residents and visitors alike. In this way, the message “Da Lat Flowers, I Love You” was expressed through relatable human stories rather than performances alone.
Looking back at the second Da Lat Flower Festival in 2007, the event can be seen as an expansion of the approach established by its inaugural edition. Flowers remained at the centre, but behind every exhibition space, flower-decorated parade and artistic programme lay a broader story of local workers, traditional villages, cultural heritage and community life.
By honouring flower growers and creating opportunities for community connection through events such as the “Floral Wedding”, the festival gradually shaped a development approach rooted in local identity. This also provided a foundation for Da Lat to continue building a recurring cultural and tourism event that not only promotes its flower brand but also celebrates the distinctive values that make it the City of Flowers.