The Mid-Autumn Festival had a very special glow recently as Sunway Putra Mall held their annual Lantern Parade with more than 800 participants from all walks of life.
Participants who gathered at the Main Concourse were bathed in the lights of more than 1,000 colourful and unique lanterns designed and decorated by students and the community. The parade was joined by 200 kids from Yayasan Chow Kit (YCK), Rainbow Home, HiiChiiKok Foundation Home for children, Persatuan Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Istimewa Insan, Rumah Charis together with students from National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) and PPKI SMK Sentul Utama.
All participants also enjoyed free lanterns and mooncakes given by the Mall as they paraded around.
Lantern Parade
Leading the procession were Danny Lee, General Manager of Sunway Putra Mall, Raymond Chin, the Founder of Touching Lives Club Kuala Lumpur & Selangor (TLC), and Hasree Khaw Hock Swee Abdullah, Treasurer of NASOM.
To complete the celebratory ambience, the mall featured a plethora of Chinese cultural performances such as drum performances, Dragon Dance followed by a Chinese Yoyo performance by 12cc Diabolo team.
Some participants brought along unique shaped lanterns and even dressed up in creative and captivating patriotic costumes in celebration of Malaysia Day. The mall’s Kids Costume Contest saw participants aged between four and 12 flaunting their best outfits with confidence. Six lucky winners won attractive prizes sponsored by Toy World.
Danny said: “Standing strong to Satu Negara, Satu Bangsa, Bangsa Malaysia, we believe our effort in organising cultural events brings people of diverse races together.”
Lantern Design Competition
Aside from the parade, the mall also hosted their first Lantern Design Competition offering prizes worth up to RM50,000! More than 1,500 submitted their lanterns for the competition including students from 15 schools and colleges around the Klang Valley, children from NASOM and the public; out of which 103 finalists were shortlisted.
Three Grand Prize winners along with 100 consolation winners were announced during the Lantern Parade event. There was also a special prize for the Most Favourite Lantern voted by Facebook fans, winning its maker a Sunway Lagoon voucher worth RM300.
“We were quite shocked when our daughter was announced as the Champion as other lanterns were creative as well. She came up with the idea to create the lantern using recycled items which took her less than a week to finish. I am happy that her hard-work paid off for this contest,” said Mr Yap, the father of Yap Hong Hong, who brought home RM10,000 worth of prizes.
The prizes were presented to all winners by Danny Lee and Darren Lau, Vice Secretary of the Malaysia Lantern Art Association.
“Everyone has a unique way of expressing creativity through arts, thus the Mall extended the invitation to students and public of all races to be part of the Mid-Autumn lantern decoration which is meaningful as it embraces each other’s artwork and promotes unity as well as diversity among Malaysians,” said Danny.
This competition was open to public of all ages and their masterpieces were displayed in the mall from 30 August till 16 September. Judges from Malaysia Lantern Art Association and the mall scored them based on the workmanship and creativity of the lantern.
Earlier in the day, the kids from the six charity homes enjoyed a full day of activities such as creating their own mooncake, lantern making workshop and even a shopping spree sponsored by Good2U. They were later treated to a scrumptious meal by AriThai, a Thai cuisine restaurant.
For more information, please visit Sunway Putra Mall at it its Website, Facebook and Instagram.