Earlier this month, Jurong East and West residents celebrated National Day early on 3 August at the former temporary market near Blk 498 Jurong West.
Residents turned up mainly in red and white, and so are the thousands of helium balloons. The excited scream of the youngsters taking the thrill rides could be heard from far. Patient crowd waited in long food queues for their favourite delicacies such as roti prata and abalone noodles.
The string of performances started with Mus’Art Wind Symphony Orchestra, followed by singing and dancing by children from various age groups – preschool tots to secondary school students from Sparkletots, My First Skool, Jurong Primary School and Jurongville Secondary School. This was followed by a duet by Mark Sara and Annetha Ayyavoo, as well as other electrifying performance by Hamzah Adon, Iskandar Ismail and Mediacorp artiste Jarrell Huang.
Mr Ang Wei Neng, Advisor to Jurong GRC GROs, spoke about the carnival venue which was once a temporary market, built in six weeks, to replace the burnt down market at Blk 493 Jurong West. The new Jurong Central Plaza started operations on 1 January, 2019. The temporary market was then demolished, converted back to basketball courts and turned into the venue for the National Day Carnival.
Guest of Honour Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and Advisor to Jurong GRC GROs (Taman Jurong), joined the crowd in singing the national anthem, pledge taking and cake cutting. Before the night ended, carnival-goers were delighted with a five-minute fireworks display at close range, with bright pops of colour lighting up the night sky.
Before the night ended, carnival-goers were delighted with a five-minute fireworks display, with bright pops of colour lighting up the night sky.