The Taoyuan Land Art Festival drew 330,000 visitors in just two days, with 200,000 flocking to see the little duck

▲ Just two days into the Taoyuan Land Art Festival, the yellow duck exhibit was already packed with visitors. (Photo / fromthe Love in Xinyi fan page)

Taoyuan Yellow Duck and the 2013 Land Art Festival<<<<更多照片

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

Last weekend finally saw cloudy skies give way to sunshine, and the first two days of the Taoyuan Land Art Festival also welcomed a huge crowd. Some people even queued up as early as 6 a.m. just to get a close-up view of the little duck. Organizers reported that the total number of visitors to the entire exhibition area exceeded 330,000, with over 200,000 visiting the duck exhibit alone—proof that the little duck’s charm remains undiminished.

The Taoyuan Land Art Festival kicked off last Saturday (the 26th), giving those who missed the Kaohsiung yellow duck a chance to finally see the real thing. Organizers said that over the two-day opening period, crowds were non-stop from morning until the end of the day’s activities. Even with shuttle buses and traffic controls in place around Xinyi Township, the influx of visitors still caused major traffic jams. And even if you managed to find parking, you’d still have to wait nearly an hour in a long queue before getting to see the yellow duck.

▲ % The art festival venue was packed with enthusiastic visitors (top photo), and other areas were also crowded (bottom photo)! (Photo / fromthe Love in Xinyi fan page)

The event also gave rise to issues such as poor visitor flow, people crossing restricted areas to take photos despite safety risks, and sanitation problems. Although the Yangmei Police Department had officers on-site 24/7 to maintain safety, some people still took advantage of shift changes early in the morning to enter restricted areas for photos, or refused to leave even after dark, snapping pictures of the night-time duck under dim streetlights.

The visitor route was also confusing due to the large number of tourists and poor design. Organizers originally planned the walking path as “enter right, exit left,” with only one entrance. But to ease congestion, they added a second entrance on the left, changing the flow to “enter left or right, exit middle.” This forced visitors to take detours and queue up to see the duck. The congested crowds, plus having to join queues that stretched over 2 kilometers on both sides, turned what should’ve been a 20-minute duck-viewing experience into one that took over an hour—drawing complaints from many attendees.

Residents near Xinyi Township also cashed in on “duck fever.” For those who wanted to see the cute yellow duck without the crowds, homeowners near Houhu Pond opened up their rooftops for visitors to enjoy the view—for a fee of NT$50 per person. Some made nearly NT$10,000 in a single day.

▲ % Despite staff and volunteers working hard to maintain cleanliness and order at the art festival venue (top photo), some visitors still ignored reminders to protect the environment and public order (bottom photo). (Top photo / from Love inXinyi fan page; bottom photo / fromthe Taoyuan Land Art Festival fan page)