On September 24th , a press conference in Yiling District announced that the Opening Ceremony of the Fourth Yichang (Yiling) Citrus Festival would be held on October 15th in Jiedaoguan Village of Xiaoxita Sub-district. On that day, three major activities will attract guests to visit the capital of citrus--Yiling, market Yiling citrus to the whole nation and arouse the "citrus craze" during sales season.
　　The festival activities include Ode to Citrus, Happy Citrus Park and Citrus World, among which the opening ceremony on October 15th “Happy Citrus Park” of the opening consists of 7 small activities: singing and walking into the citrus park--"Ode to Citrus "folk culture performance and citrus fun competition, tasting in the citrus park--cooking competition, placing orders in citrus park –trade fair, updating micro blog in the park—micro blog masters activity, photo-taking in the citrus park--citrus photography contest, riding in the citrus park-- cycling race, and bringing beloved ones to the citrus park—citizens’ free visit to the citrus park.
　　It’s reported that there will be a lot of innovations in this year: the host will be farmers instead of government for the first time---Hubei Xiao-xi-hong Citrus Association becomes the organizer and five citrus cooperatives become the co-organizers to display the citrus corporative image and Yiling citrus industry chain system. Different from the previous ones, this festival will be held in the open air, inviting the citizens to the citrus park to participate in fun interactive activities and to promote the firm integration of agriculture and tourism. The host place has changed from the supplier’s to the sellers’, including Beijing, Qingdao, Hohhot, Manzhouli, etc. and Yiling Citrus brands will get promoted.
　　This year, there is a good harvest of Yiling citrus and the citrus production is expected to reach 700,000 tons. Aiming at facilitating citrus sales and improving farmers\' income, the government invested 20 million yuan in citrus business loan interest subsidies and sales incentives, and collaboration of various departments to build enterprise service platforms. By September 23rd, the region has sold 33,900 tons of early-ripe citrus. (Correspondent He Ying, Reporter Long Yizhou)