Singapore HeritageFest 2011 opens today, and we checked out the opening event at Ang Mo Kio.

Via Singapore HeritageFest 2011′s website,

FESTIVAL OPENING @ ANG MO KIO (15 – 17 July)

The Singapore HeritageFest 2011 kicks off at the open field behind Ang Mo Kio Public Library and pays tribute to the vibrant and diverse culture of our home. It’s also a memorable journey exploring past and present day Singapore.

Be brought back to the 1960s in an immersive kampong-living journey – those days, Singapore was a world away from how it looks today!

Then fast-forward to the present in an exhibit of artworks interpreting modern life. Works on display include those by artists Liu Kang, Chen Wen Hsi, Georgette Chen, Amanda Heng and Michael Lee. Poets Daren Shiau and Arthur Yap tell their own stories of Singapore.

Along the way, explore the island’s daily living, wedding practices and birth rites that define our multicultural heritage. And if all that fun is making you hungry, fuel yourself with our offering of various traditional snacks and goodies!

Song, dance and drama from the traditional to the modern grace the Festival’s stage. Peranakan voices, Chinese martial arts, Malay theatre and Indian dance are just some of the exciting performances set to take place this weekend!

And be sure to catch Oh! What a Night! on Saturday evening. It’s a highly-charged concert that celebrates the vibrant and diverse cultures of Singapore with the finest folk and contemporary performances!

We really liked the idea of bringing art to the heartlands, and from celebrated Singaporean artists to boot.

While some of the works on show were tongue-in-cheek, we felt that everything that was presented in the Singapore Portraits section was very accessible.

We’re quite sure kids will be having fun giving traditional games a go, once you’ve hidden their mobile devices, of course.

Fancy yourself a bit of an artist? Then do submit your creation to form part of the Community Patchwork.

If you’re more keen on sitting back and being entertained, there’s a multitude of stage performances happening over the weekend.

We thoroughly enjoyed walking through recreations of a kampung house, provision shop and 70s home.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a festival about Singapore if our local food wasn’t being celebrated, would it?

We wrapped up our visit of the Festival Opening@Ang Mo Kio in true Singaporean fashion.

For a full list of events happening at Festival Opening@Ang Mo Kio, please visit this page.

Singapore HeritageFest 2011 is on from today till 31 July 2011. For the full list of activities, click here.

Every year, the Singapore HeritageFest (SHF) brings both young and old together to celebrate our city’s charms, multicultural community and rich history.

This year, in our eighth Festival and the largest one yet, we transform the island into a feast of music, dance, art, food and numerous interactive experiences, in tribute to all that we love about our home, Singapore.

SHF 2011’s theme, Home – What We Love About It!, welcomes you to rethink what it means to call this city home. In an exciting three-week exploration, rediscover the city’s local cultures and practices, travel back to times past and present, and experience fully our living heritage.