DUBAI Summer Surprises 2004 (DSS), which kicked off on June 17, runs ten weeks until August 27.
With each week’s activities built around a special theme, each theme plugging into the overall premise of serving up dollops of information entertainingly under the umbrella, Big Fun for Little Ones.
In typical Dubai style, the event exemplifies cooperation between government bodies and the private sector. Each week’s surprises are sponsored and organised by a different government body, with malls, hotels and entertainment venues tying in.
The city’s shopping malls, never slow to spot an opportunity, have turned the emirate into a shoppers’ paradise, converting themselves into climate-controlled play areas and hosting a wide array of activities during the ten-week extravaganza, aimed at getting the parents to open their wallets even as their kids are occupied. Several groups of world-class entertainment acts have been brought to Dubai as part of this year’s line-up. First-timers to DSS will spot the festival’s cheerful mascot Modhesh everywhere: on lampposts, climbing up monuments, laying down on lawns across the city. So, where can you find him, then? At, quite naturally, the biggest of the DSS’ many attractions: Modhesh Fun City. Situated in the Dubai Airport Expo, it hosts a wide array of activities largely managed by children themselves.
Arts Surprises and Ice Surprises may be over last month, but still to come are Sweets Surprises from July 1-7, Cartoon from July 8-14, Flower Surprises from July 15-21, Heritage Surprises from July 22-28, Adventure Surprises from July 29-August 4, Knowledge Surprises from August 5-11, Back-2-School Surprises from August 12-18 and Colour from August 19- 27.