The event was attended by Truong My Hoa, former Secretary of the Party Central Committee and former Vice State President, and Le Quoc Phong, Member of the Party Central Committee and Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Tran Thi Dieu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, said that the Ho Chi Minh City Flower Street — a distinctive cultural project of the city for more than two decades — has returned once again, bringing fresh spring colours and conveying the city’s confidence, aspirations and determination to rise in a new stage of development.
Under the theme “Spring Convergence – Steadfastly Moving Forward,” the 2026 Tet Flower Street presents a new appearance with an expanded organisation space. For the first time, the programme is held simultaneously at three locations: Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street (Sai Gon Ward), Thu Dau Mot Ward (Binh Duong), and Vung Tau Ward (Ba Ria–Vung Tau), each with its own distinctive features while sharing the common theme that reflects the spirit of unity, convergence and strong development of the city.
On Nguyen Hue Street, the flower street is divided into three chapters: Spring of Integration - The Origins of Splendor - A Steadfast Future. Continuing the tradition of previous years, the area around the statue of President Ho Chi Minh is decorated with the southern Tet spirit through a brilliant yellow apricot blossom garden created by artisans from Binh Loi Apricot Village (Binh Loi Commune, Ho Chi Minh City).
The grand installation “Nine-Red-Mane Horse,” inspired by the legend of Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh, features layered colours and stands 6.4 metres tall. The “nine-red-manes” symbolise completeness, auspiciousness and wholeness, with a blend of warm and cool tones and colour-shifting paint effects that create a “sea of colours” changing continuously according to visitors’ viewing angles.
A highlight of this year’s flower street is “A leisure horse,” the largest mascot installation, with nearly seven metres high. Making from environmentally friendly geometric woven bamboo, the giant horse creates a multi-layered ecological space where visitors can wander among plants and experience a sense of calm and ease.
Inspired by the sweet folk song “Ly ngua o” (Song of the Black Stallion), the grand installation cluster “Ly ngua o” recreates the cultural spirit of southern Viet Nam with playful forms and fashionable bluish-purple tones. Its special feature is in the lacquer-effect surface in combination with 3D hologram cloud-and-wave patterns, creating a shimmering visual effect under sunlight.
The “Radiant Memories” zone highlights a giant revolving lantern more than six metres high and 6.4 metres in diameter. Its continuously rotating axis recreates traditional Tet scenes, preserving traditional values and national identity.
Notably, the flower street 2026 introduces two experience versions within the same space for the first time: a vibrant symphony of colours under spring sunlight during the day, and a festival of light and groundbreaking mapping technology at night — making it an unmissable spring destination in Ho Chi Minh City.
This is the first time mapping technology has appeared at the flower street, representing a peak in innovation, with images projected directly onto uneven mascot surfaces. The mascot at the main gate tells an epic story spanning from the legend of Saint Giong to the development of technology and the merger of the megacity.
The combination of mapping technology and mechanical movements in the mascot’s head and legs creates a lifelike experience. Softly moving LED strip lights at the base, together with LED gates and chasing-light effects, create an explosive visual symphony.
The final grand installation, “Magnificent Landscape” is illuminated with static lighting and has no mechanical motion; however, the structure of the mascot combined with external lighting creates an illusion of movement. The scene features nine eternal galloping horses, including three main horses representing Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau and Binh Duong, designed as solid forms symbolising strength and stability. The remaining six smaller horses represent different aspects of the city, shaped with layered structures to create multi-layer a depth and motion along a path of light.
Nguyen Hue Flower Street for the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026 will open from 7 p.m. on February 15 to 9 p.m. on February 22 (from the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month to the sixth day of the Lunar New Year).
