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)