If it rains during the National Day Parade, it would not exactly be a first.
Singapore has held its National Day Parade every year since 1966, although its format changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And over those decades, there have been several well-documented occasions when rain decided it wanted to be part of the celebrations too.
Based on official heritage records and mainstream media reports we could verify, here are some of the years when NDP celebrations got wet.
1966: Singapore’s First NDP After Independence
Yes, it rained during Singapore’s very first National Day Parade after independence.
The inaugural NDP was held at the Padang on 9 August 1966, with more than 23,000 participants taking part.
The parade began at 9am, and the weather initially cooperated.
The 90-minute march-past at City Hall was completed before rain began falling after about 10.30am.
That did not stop the military units.
They continued marching through Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar, where crowds were waiting for them along the route.
So technically, Singapore did not even make it through its first NDP without testing the poncho situation.
1968: The Famous NDP Downpour
The rainy NDP that is probably remembered best happened just two years later.
On 9 August 1968, a heavy downpour hit the parade at the Padang.
Instead of seeking shelter, participants remained in position.
Then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and members of his Cabinet also stayed in the rain.
Lee later recalled that there had been a decision to make over whether the parade should continue.
It did.
One of the participants that morning was his son and future prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was then 16 years old and a Catholic High School student taking part in a combined schools brass band.
During his 2005 National Day Rally, Lee Hsien Loong recalled how everyone had been drenched, and how the musicians had to turn their instruments upside down to pour the water out.
Rather appropriately, the theme of the 1968 NDP was “The Rugged Society”.
Hard to find a more literal demonstration of the theme than that.
1975: Rain Hit Singapore’s Decentralised NDP Celebrations
The 1975 NDP was unusual because there was no single main parade like the ones we are familiar with today.
To celebrate Singapore’s 10th birthday, the NDP was decentralised for the first time.
Instead of concentrating everything at the Padang, “pocket pageants” were held at 13 locations around Singapore, including Toa Payoh, Maxwell Road, Bukit Panjang and Paya Lebar.
And the celebrations began with rain.
The National Heritage Board’s Roots website cites a Straits Times report from the following day describing how the celebrations began in an “after-breakfast rain”.
Fortunately, the weather subsequently improved, with sunshine appearing later in the day.
The celebrations eventually ended with fireworks at night.
Singapore weather really gave them the full package that day.
2008: Heavy Drizzle During the Actual Parade
Then there was NDP 2008.
That year’s parade was held at The Float @ Marina Bay, with about 27,000 spectators attending.
Unlike some occasions when rain arrived before the main event, the rain in 2008 came during the actual parade.
A heavy drizzle fell, but the show continued.
Spectators simply took out the ponchos provided in their NDP funpacks and carried on watching.
The rain was significant enough that, ahead of NDP 2015, The Straits Times reported that 2008 had been the most recent year in which it rained during the parade itself.
An official SG101 retrospective on NDP history also specifically highlights the downpours of 1968 and 2008 as examples of how the parade had continued “rain or shine”.
2024: A Downpour Just as NDP Celebrations Were Getting Started
More recently, anyone who attended NDP 2024 probably remembers the ponchos coming out again.
That year’s main celebrations were held at the Padang on 9 August.
At about 4.45pm, heavy rain began falling over both the Padang and The Promontory @ Marina Bay.
CNA photographed spectators caught in a downpour at around 5pm, with many making their way to their seats wearing ponchos.
The celebrations at the Padang began at about 5.30pm, while The Straits Times reported at the time that rain was still pouring outside the parade venue.
Most people stayed.
The weather eventually improved enough for major NDP favourites including the Red Lions, the state flag fly-past and the F-16 display to proceed.
So while the heaviest rain came shortly before the main parade and ceremony, NDP 2024 definitely qualifies as a very wet National Day celebration.
There Was an Even Wetter National Day Event Before Independence
And if we go further back, there is an interesting bonus entry.
In 1960, before Singapore became an independent country, a National Day mass rally and march-past was scheduled for 3 June.
At the time, National Day commemorated Singapore attaining full internal self-government in 1959.
To know more about this internal self-government, watch this:
But rain did not merely inconvenience that event.
It washed it out.
According to the National Heritage Board, the rain was so heavy that the parade had to be postponed.
Contemporary newspaper reports described the Padang as being like a lake after hours of rain.
So Singapore’s complicated relationship between National Day celebrations and rain actually began even before the first post-independence NDP in 1966.
Fortunately, these days there are ponchos in the NDP packs.
