The 60th Fruit Show began at the Coonoor Sims Park on Saturday, with visitors being treated to sights of giant exhibits made entirely of fruit.
The two-day event will mark the last leg of the summer festival in the Nilgiris, which has seen lakhs of visitors to the district undertaking visits to the various parks and gardens, including the Government Botanical Garden, Rose Garden, Nehru Park and indeed Sims Park, over the last few weeks.
The main attraction at the Fruit Show this year was the exhibit of an elephant and her calf. Part of the exhibit with the adult elephant was said to be around 12-feet in length, four feet in girth and nine feet in height, while the calf was 3.5 feet in length, and three feet in height, with more than a tonne of black and green varieties of grapes being used to build the exhibit.
Horticulture departments in Kanyakumari, Tiruchi, Vellore, Tirupur as well as from other departments had also set up exhibits at the event.
Officials said that more than 43 entries have been received from persons taking part in competitions designed to showcase the best exhibits made from fruits, and that winners would be announced by the horticulture department on Sunday.
The show was inaugurated by AIADMK MP K R Arjunan.
Also present at the event were A Shanthi Ramu, Coonoor MLA, Joint Director of Horticulture (in-charge), Sivasubramaniam Samraj and other officials.
