Thousands flock to Victoria Park for Lunar New Year Fair

The heat was on in Victoria Park yesterday as thousands flocked to the first day of the Lunar New Year Fair on the warmest day in two weeks.

Temperatures in Causeway Bay reached 22 degrees Celsius in the afternoon causing some stallholders to worry the warm weather might affect customers' moods, but it seemed only to make them spend more.

Crowds started pouring in at noon, bringing plenty of business for stallholders including Sandy So Yuk-ping, general manager of Club One, who was in charge of the fair's biggest food stall.

Her stall, rented for HK$540,000, was in previous years occupied by a vendor selling fish balls and dumplings. This year, it offered abalone, sharks' fin and bird's nest treats at HK$30 a portion. So had sold 500 abalone dishes in the first 15 minutes.

"We find Hongkongers very open-minded. The Lunar New Year market doesn't always have to be about fish balls," she said.

On other stalls, bestsellers included toy horses that doubled as protest symbols and toilet rolls featuring images of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's face.