Mid Autumn Celebration at Taman Jurong Community Club

On the 11th of October, Taman Jurong Grassroots Organizations (GROs) organized a Mid Autumn celebration ‘Light up @ TJ’ at Taman Jurong Community Club (TJCC). Many booths were set up, including a popcorn booth, a cotton candy booth (many children were excited by these), a tea appreciation booth, a Chinese calligraphy booth set up by PA trainers and a Chinese riddle booth set up by teachers from Lakeside Primary School. There was also a wishing tree set up by NUS students where people could write their wishes and hang them on tree. Goody bags were being given out to those with tickets for the event. While Mid Autumn is a Chinese festival, people of many races participated, depicting scenes of racial harmony and cohesion among the residents of Taman Jurong.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance, MP for Jurong GRC and Mrs Tharman, accompanied by Mr Goh Peng Tong, PBM (Taman Jurong Citizen Consultative Committee Chairman) and Mr Ng Siow How, PBM (Taman Jurong Community Club Senior Citizen Executive Committee Chairman) opened the event. The lights in the vicinity were lit up as a symbol of love, hope and good fortune. The organizing committee had taken pains to design the lighting effect. The low hanging blue LED lights created the ambience of all were seated below stars.

Performances started with a spectacular and heart stopping drum performance showcasing the TJCC Lion & Dragon Dance Troupe. After that, a live band performed songs in English, Chinese, Malay and Cantonese. Mr and Mrs Tharman greeted the residents warmly, giving out ang baos (red packets) to the senior citizens.As the residents and families got into the celebrative mood, clappers and whistles in the goody bags were used to create a noisy and festive atmosphere. Performances by various lion dance troupes were showcased. The performance by the Long Tian Dragon & Lion Dance Troupe was well received due to the high difficulty of stunts and martial arts components. The performance by the Wen Yang Sports Association was greatly welcomed too.

The children took pictures with Mr and Mrs Tharman enthusiastically. Mr Tharman gave a speech which he greeted the crowd in four different languages, emphasizing Taman Jurong is one family.

After Mr Tharman’s speech, Standard Chartered Bank employees gave a performance which featured a 20 member choir with singers from 5 different countries. The magic show next was very popular with the children. The live band then came back for an encore performance, singing well known songs like “We will rock you” and “Shalala lala”. Lucky draws were staggered between the live band performance with the first prize of a Fuji film camera.