Senayan Fair, an alternative holiday treat for families
Senayan Fair, an alternative holiday treat for families
JAKARTA (JP): School holidays are still one week away from
ending, but parents may have already run out of ideas as to where
to take their children.
This is often because parents cannot take days off from work,
or because they cannot afford it.
Most parents seem to have taken all their family members to
every single shopping mall in the city so far during this year's
long school holiday.
Well, if that is that case, there is a place that can become
another option: the Senayan Fair, held for the first time in the
eastern parking lot of Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan,
Central Jakarta.
Although it is not festive at all, it is not a bad alternative
for children to spend their holidays.
Here, parents can not only shop, but their children can also
enjoy attractions like those found in an amusement park, like a
roller coaster, bumper cars and so on, though the size of the
attractions are much smaller.
The fair is open from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, and from
10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.
A ticket to enter the fair is Rp 5,000 per person (about 45
U.S. cents) and it costs an extra Rp 4,000 to Rp 5,000 for a go
on any of the children's attractions.
Visitors who enter the gate from 5 p.m. onwards will not be
able to miss the huge ship called, what else, Titanic, which is a
slide for children.
Inside the arena, there are six huge white tents and dozens of
smaller others, where companies and individuals offer their
products.
The products are varied, from furniture to household items,
from clothes to handicrafts, from VCDs to Korean mats and Indian
saris.
All of the goods are enough to satisfy a visitor's shopping
crave, especially because most of them are reasonably priced.
A number of visitors interviewed on Saturday night expressed
their happiness with their visit to the fair, but some others
gave plain responses.
"In the beginning it looked good, but then, after having
searched all four corners of the fair, I found only a few items
for me and my family," said Indiah, a mother who, together with
her husband, took her two daughters to the fair on Saturday
night.
Visitors are also able to relax at the fair by enjoying dinner
there, as there are some food stalls ranging from Amigos to
McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, while at the same time
enjoying music performances from two stages.
Visitors can see some of their favorite bands, like GIGI or
Stinky, playing on the two stages every evening starting 7 p.m.
The event is the first ever held. According to J.S. Ohana from
the event's organizer PT Mitra Andrawina, the idea is to give an
alternative place to go during the school holidays.
"Usually, holiday activities are always centered on Ancol
beach, North Jakarta or Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Park in East
Jakarta. But since these locations are quite far for people who
live in South or West Jakarta many people don't have time to go
there," Ohana told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
"Therefore, we decided to hold an event here in Senayan as the
place is highly accessible," he said.
The concept, he added, is taken from the annual Jakarta Fair,
which is held every June through July, at Kemayoran, Central
Jakarta.
"Some people in our company used to organize the Jakarta
Fair," Ohana said, adding that PT Mitra is the subsidiary of
state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina.
A total of 300 companies and 100 individuals are participating
in Senayan Fair, he said.
"All places that we provide are sold out. If there is an empty
space, that is because some participants only booked them for two
weeks or so," Ohana said.
As for visitors, Ohana admitted that so far, they have only
reached about half their target.
"We set a target of 15,000 visitors a day, or a total of
500,000 visitors for the whole month. But so far, it has been
only a little over 50 percent of the target," he noted.
"But considering this is our debut, it's not disappointing at
all," Ohana said, adding that the organizers planned to make
Senayan Fair an annual event. (hdn)