Yentle Tong Ying-tung surveys stall 289 at the Lunar New Year Fair and smiles. Recession might have dampened retail sales in neighbouring Causeway Bay, but the six-day annual fair in Victoria Park has always drawn crowds and the 25-year-old art administrator sees a business opportunity in her 3-metre by 1.5-metre space.
Over 40 years the fair has expanded from a market for festive flowers and trees to a seasonal splurge on feel-good, family bonding holiday items such as cuddly toys and inflatable plastic hammers. And with 300,000 people attending last year's Lunar New Year's Eve events, stallholders such as Tong have reason to hope Hong Kong families will put aside their economic uncertainties and usher in the Year of the Ox with a traditional walk and shop in the park.
Tong is especially hopeful as her space stands out among the flower stalls that surround it. Like many first-time stallholders, she hopes to draw visitors' attention by selling items with a difference. Just one of 298 stalls at this year's event, which opened on Tuesday, Tong's space is packed with artworks ranging from a Kwun Yum [Guanyin] statue made of adhesive tape to delicate handmade necklaces and paintings commemorating the Year of the Ox.
'We want to introduce art pieces to the general public,' says Tong of Art-At-All, an organisation based at the Shek Kip Mei Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre that promotes local talent. 'Art appreciation shouldn't be just confined to galleries in SoHo.'
She has also devised a competitive bidding system to lure passers-by. All her stall's displays are assigned a lot number and are 'auctioned' by an amateur actor, one at a time. And bargain hunters take note: lots are marked for bidding from HK$2 for miniature books by Lee Chun-fung to HK$12,000 for an oil painting by Victor Lai Ming-hoi.
'Bargaining has long been a tradition at the Lunar New Year Fair,' says Tong. 'It spices up the festive atmosphere.
