The annual Lamphun Longan Fair will be held on August at the Lamphun Provincial Stadium.
The event starts off with a spectacular parade with beautifully decorated floats on Wednesday, August 12. At 1500 the parade departs from the Provincial Governor House on Inthayoungyot Road and ends at the Lamphun Provincial Stadium which is the festival terrain.
Every day there are beauty contests, Longan contests, cultural and musical performances in the afternoon and evening. From 9 AM until midnight there is a market with OTOP (one district one product) products and lots of other things for sale.
The longan is a globose fruit that is about 2 - 2.5 cm in diameter. It has a thin and brittle rind, which is brown-red to brown yellow. The rind is covered with regular protuberances, somewhat similar to that of the litchi, but smaller. The flesh is translucent and sweet, and contains a single dark-brown seed.The botanicial name is Euphoria Longan but is sometimes also called Nephelium longan or Dimocarpus longan. In Thailand it is called Lamyai.It is a tree that can reach up to 20 meters tall is native to Southeastern China, (Guangdong, Guangxi, the Hainan Area and Yunnan) to Thailand, Southwestern India and to Sri Lanka.
The longan tree has an evergreen foliage. Leaves are alternate, compound and glossy. Young leaflets are red-green, and turn dark-green with age.
The longan is generally eaten fresh. It can also be canned, just like litchees or rambutans. It can also be used as an ingredient for drinks and liqueurs.
In Thailand there are several longan varieties such as: