BANGKOK — No event celebrating the Thai New Year festival will be held at a popular backpacker street this year, a business guild said Monday.
Sa-nga Ruangwattanakul, an advisor of the Khaosan Road Business Association, said that the group decided to cancel the annual stage event because he did not think the district would approve it. Similar programs for the Thai New Year, or Songkran, were also cancelled in a number of provinces due to the coronavirus epidemic.
“Every time we hold an event we have to ask for approval from the local district office, and I don’t think it will be approved this year,” Sa-nga said. “Songkran events in other provinces are cancelled too.”
There will be no stages or parades set up at Khaosan like in other years, though Sa-nga said the massive waterfight, which draws tens of thousands of participants each year, will likely continue to take place.
“People can’t be stopped if they want to splash a bit of water,” he said. There will also be a ceremony to give alms to monks on the morning of April 13, the first of the three-day holidays.
Although the Tourism Authority of Thailand said Songkran fairs and events organized by the government would still go ahead, albeit some possible adjustments, local businesses and organizers in some parts of Thailand already called off their programs.
Cancellations include events in Khon Kaen, Chonburi, and Buriram provinces.
The organizers of the S2O Music Festival in Bangkok announced Friday that the three-day music festival for 2020 is also cancelled.
Source: https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2020/03/09/coronavirus-khaosan-road-cancels-songkran-events/