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 Friday, August 2. 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:
'Biew Kiew' - rather productive, relatively late, with good quality fruits.
'Diamond River' - good fruits of medium size, relatively early. named 'Phetsakon' in Thailand.
'Sri Chompoo' - Large fruits of good quality.
Thailand is one the main longan producing countries and most of the longan orchards are found in Northern Thailand, especially in the Lamphun area.
The fruit matures and ripens in the months of July and August. The white flesh is extremely healthy as it contains several minerals and vitamins including iron, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium plus large amounts of vitamins A and C.
Fresh longan have a relatively short shelf life, however, the flesh can be dried or canned and has become one of Thailand's leading fruit exports.
Herbalists and practitioners of traditional medicines are well acquainted with the special properties of the longan fruit. It's regarded as a blood tonic, which nurtures the heart and beautifies the skin and Chinese women, for at least 2,000 years, have recorded the use of longan in love potions