As the masses jostled around, stalls were packed, halls swarmed and amusement rides filled to the brim.

“It’s so crowded here,” Sani, a father of three from Padalarang, West Java, told The Jakarta Post on the opening night of this year’s Jakarta Fair.

“There are more and more people as the evening goes on, I really am exhausted,” Sani said with a big smile betraying his spent limbs.

It was the first time he went to the fair.

A huge number of people are expected. Jakarta Fair has been hailed as the biggest, longest-running and most complete fair in Southeast Asia.

Held annually since 1968, it is the capital’s staple event that boasts a wide array of products, such as the culinary, automotive, sports, tech and fashion industry, just to name a few.

“I’ve come here every year ever since I was a kid, and it’s always fun,” Endah, a 62-year-old resident of Manggarai, South Jakarta, told the Post.

One time, little Endah was even on the other side of the exhibition table: standing in to man a stall when the fair was still held at Merdeka Square near the National Monument (Monas).

After so many years and iterations, she still finds the fare exciting.

“There are a lot of products, lights, fanfare and exhibitions. You can look for stuff that is cheaper than usual,” she gushed.

A place for all things

This year marks the 54th edition of the Jakarta Fair. Running from June 14 to July 16, the fair started off with a mainstay spectacle on its opening night: a huge burst of fireworks in the sky. Endah brought her family over to the fair to watch the fireworks, like many others did.

“There’s five of us here,” Sani, said, pointing to his wife and children. “And we just come for a day to look around the fair here since I just got back from my out-of-town duty.”

Another big reason why people came to the fair is its expansive catalog: anything from coffees to cars is sold with discount tags.

Window-shopping was the plan, but justified purchases were made nevertheless.

“We got what we needed. Pillows, mattress, household things,” Sani said, pointing to the big bundle of things his son was holding.

On the other side of the fair, 44-year-old Santi from Bintaro, South Jakarta, and her teenage daughter Makeza came with one mission.

“We came here just to look for a motorcycle,” Santi said, who was well-aware of many discounted things at the fair.

After a quick tour of the automotive stalls, Makeza picked the motorcycle they needed for the whole family in no time.

“We only come here if we need something, but lately it’s gotten more crowded,” Santi said.

According to JIExpo marketing director Ralph Scheunemann in a press conference on June 7, there are 2,500 tenants with 1,500 booths at the fair this year. Sixty percent of them are private companies while forty percent represent micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Last year, when it was first reopened after the pandemic, the fair saw 6.9 million visitors and over Rp 7.3 trillion (about US$ 484 million) in transactions.

Sellers, including those peddling the traditional delicacies, rake in a lot of profits from their stalls.

“I have opened my kerak telor stall at the fair every year since 2010, and thankfully, it has always drawn a lot of customers,” Ade Junaedi, 37, said.

Ade sells the traditional Betawi omelet made of eggs and glutinous rice, a snack almost emblematic to the fair. At the fair, the iconic dish practically flies off charcoal-fired stoves.

“My parent-in-law said that selling kerak telor has its spell. When you’re knee-deep in customers, other sellers next to you will also be flooded with customers,” Ade said.

Cultural identity

The fair is part of the capital’s 496th anniversary celebrations.

Like it has always featured each year, this year’s edition will be filled with music concerts of a variety of artists, from big-name soloists like Raisa and Tiara Andini to legendary bands like Slank and The Adams.

Yogyakarta-based band The Rain kicked things off on the opening night with a pop-rock rendition of “Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan,” a 1960s oldie that describes the atmosphere of the capital well.

“Jakarta Fair is already very familiar to Jakarta residents. Every year, they wait for the fair to come,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said in his opening remarks.

Jokowi then hit the alleyways between exhibition pavilions to see the many booths and stalls.

By then, the fair was already jam-packed with onlookers, many screaming and hurtling toward one another for a chance to take a picture together.

“I couldn’t catch him, but I did get a video of him,” said Endah nonchalantly. She was busy lining up at a food stall when the President walked around.

Historian Andi Achdian could see why the fair is very important for the country that it begged for a presidential visit.

“In contemporary times, its significance is being the ‘soul of the city’ that adds more colors to the lives of Jakarta residents,” Andi told the Post.

He also noted the importance of Jakarta Fair’s widely-renowned history: it was initiated by then-Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin in 1968, building off the long tradition of night markets in the 20th century.

“At the time, every local government had their time-specific night markets, which were held to promote local products and also provide some entertainment,” he said.

Jakarta used to have numerous night markets, the most famous one being the Gambir Fair in the 1920s during the colonial era. The Jakarta Fair was then a result of all of the markets combined, a “development of all previous experiences.”

“So, the Jakarta Fair is quite an important identity for Jakarta,” Andi said.