Canceled Again: Songkran Festival

A Thai New Year festival (Songkran) that I’ve been looking forward to attending in 2024 especially after not being able to attend any Lunar New Year events this year is canceled. Why? I want answers especially when it was canceled in 2023 as well.

I just don’t get it. It was weird enough that there was actually a belated Songkran Festival in Los Angeles’ Thai Town in the summer of 2022 but to have this annual event canceled not once, but TWICE after having it in 2022 is just extremely bizarre. Now, I didn’t bother to attend the 2022 one but it’s safe to say that everyone can understand why there had to be a postponement from having the festival in Spring 2022 to late Summer 2022 instead due to the COVID fiasco. But a cancellation in the year prior (2023) AND now this year when other big events are happening makes me question things.

It’s a relatively well known event that happens annually some time in April and although Thai Town becomes crazily crowded on their Songkran Festival day, many people look forward to it. It’s easily accessible via public transportation (Metro) but if you’re willing to challenge yourself with finding a parking spot, you can attempt that early in the morning.

This Songkran Festival that has become a tradition for people to attend in Thai Town regardless of whether they’re Thai or not is just not happening. Ha, I guess that’s obvious since I’ve said it so many times already but it’s such a shame that it’s come to this when people come together at this event for the food, for the girls (in reference to their pageant), muay thai and more. For those that actually celebrate Songkran or the equivalent of it, it’s also an opportunity to make merit to monks should they arrive early enough to do so.

So, what is going on, Thai Town? Who’s responsible for planning this event? Who’s responsible for receiving funding for this event? And the most important question: who’s responsible for canceling the event?

Obviously, there’s probably something going on that is preventing this event from happening but honestly, even a downsized version of it would make many that look forward to the event, especially LA’s locals excited. After the COVID fiasco which of course still lurks around, people are desperate to have a piece of something they once had prior to COVID. I guess I shouldn’t be speaking for everyone but I feel that it’s safe to say that when an annual festival or tradition gets canceled, your sense of enjoyment and normalcy gets canceled to some extent, too.

Was there really a good enough reason to cancel the Songkran Festival for two years straight after it was held in 2022? Are efforts being put into other events instead, such as their Night Markets? I don’t know if the two are correlated in any way but if they are, it’d make a lot of sense if they started to feel that an annual event is no longer necessary when Night Markets are being held in Thai Town on a consistent basis. A good amount of people I know talk fondly of these Night Markets but a Night Market is a new thing and it has nothing to do with the annual Songkran Festival. They can tell you to get your fix at the nearest Thai temple all they want, but the truth is that it’s a different vibe when an event is held at the temple and as welcoming as temples may be to visitors, prospective visitors may feel uncomfortable and out of place on the temple grounds for whatever reason. If the Songkran Festival is canceled yet again in 2025, it’ll be as if the event never existed to begin with and that would be a darn shame.