The festival is held annually in the first week of March, when Javanese doves (Columbidae) from Thailand and neighboring countries compete to make the most melodious and sweetest cooing sounds.
It takes place at Khwan Mueang Park in the town of Yala. The park is filled with thick lush green trees and also has a large lake. Visitors and dove owners come mainly from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The doves are judged by their melody, loudness of their cooing, and pitch. Separate competitions are held for high-pitch, low-pitch, and medium-pitch dove categories. For a dove to be prized, its cooing must be resonant and rhythmic, and it must be able to sing for a relatively long time. If even one of these qualities is missing, the chance of winning lessens. Good cooing doves can command a high price in the market, and those that have won competitions can fetch several million baht.