Kathu Street Festival

Kathu Street Festival in Phuket, Thailand:

The Kathu Street Festival in the village Kathu on the island of Phuket is held annually always around the last weekend in July.

It is a reoccurring event and in 2020 it will be in its 12th season. The good people of Kathu are proud to share their rich cultural heritage, based mainly on the economic success of the tin mining industry from centuries ago, not only with the tourists visiting the district around the time of the festival, but it also serves to educate the younger generation, pass on knowledge and keep the tradition alive and help to shape and carry on the cultural identity of the region.

The festivity is accompanied by traditional Thai music produced on typical Thai instruments, with traditional dances from the region performed on stage, with old and young of the local community participating in these performances. Did we mention there will be food? We mean a lot of food of various kinds: from sweet to spicy served cold with ice, baked, cooked, boiled, fried…from chicken to duck, seafood and meat or vegetarian all the way.

The food stalls and various venues attractions are placed along Wichit Songkram Road, Kathu and it can take you a while to get from one end to the other of the festival’s stretch length … but the festival is not intended to be something you rush through in the first place.” When you in Rome do as the Romans do”… so relax, observe, make mistakes and learn from them and thereby connect with locals through having a laugh about it.

As you can see in the video, the staff of the Bangkok Phuket Hospital organized a street mob dance. This, not far away from the local museum which is the home to many interesting objects from the heyday of the bygone era of the ubiquitous tin mine industry, which helped to shape the culture by influencing art, architecture, religious rituals and also expanded the culinary palette.

* We will publish the exact dates of the 2020 Kathu Street Festival as soon as they are available.