Singapore’s Five Footway Festival is from May 2 to 10 in Chinatown’s Smith Street.

The five-footways are covered, pedestrian walkways extending five feet (1.52m) into the street-front of traditional shophouses.

This style of architecture was pioneered by Sir Stamford Raffles to shelter pedestrians from tropical sun and rain.

Organised by the Chinatown Business Association, this year’s Five Footway Festival is celebrating the theme “Our Living Heritage”.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

+ Live stage performances by groups such as Chin Woo’s lion dances.

+ Tian Eng will perform its face-changing act. Face-changing (bian lian) is a 300-year-old dramatic art form where performers instantaneously switch masks to represent shifting emotions.

+ Choy’s Brothers Opera Troupe will give an action-packed musical performance of Chinese opera and stunts.

+ Visitors can participate in ticketed cultural events, including paper folding, tea appreciation, opera appreciation and a traditional wife-cake baking experience. Wife cakes (lao po bing) are Cantonese pastries — a flaky, layered crust filled with a sweet, chewy winter melon and sesame paste.

+ There will also be community storytelling, with artisans and elders sharing personal histories.

+ Game booths will have traditional childhood games like pick-up sticks, five stones and glass marbles.

A Five Footway Festival spokesperson says: “More than a festival, the event brings to life the historical significance of five-footways as communal spaces — offering visitors a deeper understanding of Singapore’s multicultural roots while engaging directly with its living traditions. “For Australians planning a May escape, the Five Footway Festival presents a timely opportunity to experience Singapore beyond its skyline — through culture that is not just preserved, but actively lived.”

And it all happens against the backdrop of conserved shophouses in Chinatown Singapore.

fact file + More about the Five Footway Festival at fivefootway.chinatown.sg.

+ The festival site is walking distance from Chinatown MRT and Maxwell MRT.

+ There are frequent direct flights from Perth to Singapore with Singapore Airways and Scoot, its low-cost offshoot.