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Happy Thai New Year! Songkran Festival This Sunday
East Hollywood will transform into Thailand West this Sunday, April 13th, as the Thai community comes together to celebrate Songkran (the Thai New Year) with festivals, parades, and ceremonies all day long (check out the general Thai Festival website here for more info). All along Hollywood Boulevard, from Western to Vermont, vendors and sponsors will be presenting a kaleidoscope of food, crafts, dancers, Thai boxing demonstrations, costume competitions, and even the largest international curry festival in California.
Singha Beer is one of the major sponsors, so of course you can count on a beer garden and photo ops with Thai beauty queens -- or you can just watch dudes kick the stuffing out of each other at a Muay Thai boxing ring. No doubt there will be food aplenty Songkran is also known as the "Water Festival," and so there will be plenty of opportunities to splash yourself with a little blessing water.
Festivities begin at 8am with a 5k run; vendors booths open at 9am and run until 6pm. Sponsors are encouraging attendees to arrive via Metro; the Hollywood and Western Metro stop is very convenient to the event (Metro has released a press release for the event with pertinent public transportation information). And of course, you should be very familiar already with the culinary joys of Thai Town, since LAist took you on a whirlwind tour of every eatery in the neighborhood last year with our Thai One On series.
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