August 17th 2015 was the 70th Anniversary of the declaration of Indonesia’s independence, and as such is celebrated throughout the country, some of it formally, and some is more like a fun fair. And the area around Ubud is no exception. A blog post in images by Rio Helmi.

Kid’s marching bands are a staple at the flag raising ceremony.

And after the flag raising fanfair, a packet of rice is a de rigeur staple!

A balloon vendor tries his luck

The usual school kid’s traffic scrum after the morning event.

Getting out of a crammed parking space with a baby and balloon is a bit of a challenge

…and in the afternoon a perennial favorite is the greased pole with prizes on top – anything goes!

TADAAAA!!!!

The greased pole is definitely a crowd pleaser…

The obligatory selfie…

And then the marching band swings into action (right in front of the awards)

Swinging and action

A “Bhaktinegara” martial arts group stands by for their performance

One gets the impression she was photographed a lot today…

Though the master of ceremonies asked the school kids to pick up the trash but only the local military commander actually did it…

The flag corps marches by the “Inspector of Ceremony” – all very serious

Finally, as the sun drops in the west, the flag comes down.

all photographs ©Rio Helmi