This year's exhibition features several large-scale installations designed to portray significant historical milestones and the expanded stature of Ho Chi Minh City following its merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria–Vung Tau.
This upcoming event marks the 23rd consecutive year that the flower street has been organized in the city center during the Tet holidays. Over more than two decades, the installation has evolved into a distinctive cultural feature and a gathering spot for residents and visitors.
The 2026 edition aims to reflect the city's recent growth and its new role as a major regional economic powerhouse.
The centerpiece of this year's exhibition is the “Nhat Ma Thong Dong” (Leisurely Steed), a monumental horse mascot, crafted entirely from eco-friendly woven geometric bamboo and standing nearly seven meters tall, making it the largest installation along the entire thoroughfare.
For the first time in its 23-year history, Nguyen Hue Flower Street offers two different experiential versions, day and night, within the same space.
In the daytime version, the “Nine Red-Maned Horses” installation stands 6.4 m high and is inspired by the legend of Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh, an epic Vietnamese myth that explains the origins of annual floods.
During the reign of the 18th Hung King, two powerful deities, Son Tinh (the Mountain God) and Thuy Tinh (the Water God), competed for the hand of Princess Mi Nuong.
Unable to choose between them, the King ordered that whoever brought rare wedding gifts first the next morning would marry her. These gifts included a nine-tusked elephant, a nine-spurred rooster, and a nine-maned horse. Living on land, Son Tinh found the gifts easily and arrived at dawn to claim the princess.
Thuy Tinh arrived late and, in a jealous rage, summoned torrential rains and rising seas to attack the mountains. However, for every meter Thuy Tinh raised the water, Son Tinh used his magic to raise the mountains even higher.
After months of battle, Thuy Tinh grew exhausted and retreated. He never forgave Son Tinh, and to this day, he is said to raise the waters every year to seek revenge, causing Vietnam's monsoon floods.
Inspired by the rhythmic and soulful southern folk song "Ly Ngua O" (Song of the Black Stallion), this installation recreates the spirit of southern Vietnamese culture using playful, stylized forms. The display is defined by a distinct bluish-purple color palette, symbolizing both tradition and elegance.
A standout feature of the installation is the lacquered finish of the horse figures. These surfaces are intricately decorated with 3D hologram cloud-and-wave patterns that respond to natural light, creating a striking shimmer as visitors move through the space.
At night, this section of the flower street comes to life, centered around a monumental rotating lantern tower. Standing more than six meters tall with a diameter of 6.4 m, the installation serves as a kinetic centerpiece for the evening festivities.
In the same space, the “Nhat Ma Thong Dong” area is illuminated with sparkling lighting at night. Mapping technology, appearing on Nguyen Hue Flower Street for the first time after dark, projects images directly onto the uneven surfaces of the horse mascots, creating a novel visual effect.
The final gate area at night features multiple horse mascots in different colors, depicted as powerfully advancing forward.
During the daytime, the closing gate area is also designed with colors and lighting suited to the surrounding space.
According to the organizers, the 2026 Tet Flower Street also evokes national pride through symbols such as Saint Giong’s iron horse, a legendary steed from Vietnamese folklore, a magical mount that breathes fire, helps the giant warrior Thanh Giong defeat invading enemies, and then flies him to the sky, symbolizing national defense and spirit, and the war horses of the Tay Son movement, a major Vietnamese peasant rebellion led by three brothers, Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Hue (who later became Emperor Quang Trung), and Nguyen Lu, that overthrew the divided feudal ruling families, briefly unifying Vietnam and defeating foreign invaders, including the Qing Chinese army.
In addition, AR (augmented reality) technology has been upgraded on the TikTok platform, allowing visitors to view galloping horse images at the entrance gate on their personal phones without installing additional applications.
Another installation area along the flower street features a diverse arrangement of flowers, colors, and horse mascots from multiple perspectives, creating spatial depth and offering a rich visual experience for visitors.
Nguyen Hue Flower Street for the Year of the Horse will be open to the public from 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 22, the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.
