Every year in early August, Taipei holds a fireworks extravaganza for the Qixi Festival, also known as Taiwan''s Valentine''s Day. This year, the pyrotechnics show had to be postponed due to COVID, and will be held this Saturday. Amid pandemic regulations, this year''s display will limit entry to just 3,000 spectators. A raffle was held Tuesday for 1,500 tickets, and each winner will be allowed to bring in their other half to enjoy the show at Dadaocheng.

Every year, spectacular fireworks attract people to Dadaocheng. This time around, the display will feature dynamic 3D fireworks. The whole show will light up the sky for 8 minutes and end in a bright gold finale.

Liu I-ting
Taipei Dept. of Information and Tourism
This year like before we will launch around 4,320 fireworks. Spectators will be given picnic blankets to delimit their social distanced space. But that doesn''t mean they can have a picnic, as eating and drinking will not be permitted in the viewing area.

With stricter pandemic restrictions, the event will be limited to 3,000 spectators. Traffic controls will start on Saturday morning. From 6 a.m. Gates 3 and 5 along the Tamsui River will be exit only for vehicles, and after 2 p.m. even pedestrians won''t be allowed in. From 3:30 to 11:30 p.m. no vehicles will be allowed entry or exit through Gates 1 to 6 along the Tamsui River. And from 6 p.m. on, traffic control measures will be in place in nearby streets. Traffic will be diverted and parking will be prohibited on several thoroughfares. Outside the riverside park, certain parking spaces and parking lots will be closed to prevent traffic jams. Spectators are encouraged to use public transport. The closes MRT stations are Daqiaotou, Shuanglian, Zhongshan, and Beimen.

Liu I-ting
Taipei Dept. of Information and Tourism
On the day of the event, the person who won the ticket in the raffle will need to bring their cell phone to verify entry. Each winner can bring one other person with them. Both must enter together as we do not want people going in and then coming back out to bring more people in. We wouldn''t want attendants bringing in more people than allowed.

This year, admission tickets will be given out in a raffle through the Taipei PASS mobile phone app. With more than 80,000 registrants and only 1,500 winners picked, some have complained that the 1 in 7 chance of winning a ticket was simply too low.