Rain, cold weather warning make for miserable Boxing Day, but fail to put damper on annual Hong Kong Food Festival

Spitting rain and a cold weather warning kept some Hongkongers at home on Boxing Day, but the gloomy conditions were not enough to discourage shoppers from packing an annual food fair.

The Hong Kong Food Festival, now in its 19th year, has logged thousands of visitors a day at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, with one participant saying the chilly weather that descended on the city on Sunday might have actually helped attendance.

“I think today will see the largest number of visitors, as it’s Sunday and much colder,” said Frandy Yim Yu-ko, business development director of Wing Cheung Global Food Limited, one of the festival’s roughly 800 booths.

But Yim said he expected the weather to hurt turnout at the Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo, an outdoor bazaar at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay.

“It’s too chilly and windy for the elderly [to visit],” he said.

The Hong Kong Observatory issued a cold weather warning at 11am on Sunday, predicting chilly temperatures over the next two days due to the influence of an intense winter monsoon. The mercury was hovering around 12 degrees Celsius on Sunday, but was expected to plunge to just 9 degrees on Monday.

Food fair visitor Shirley Ng Chi-kwan, from Tuen Mun, said it was the crowds more than the weather that influenced her decision to skip the expo at Victoria Park.

But, she added: “We don’t plan to spend too long here either.”