After one year away, next year’s National Day Parade (NDP) will return to the Padang.
Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing announced this in a speech on Tuesday (25 Aug), saying that this was to commemorate 60 years of National Service (NS60).
Mr Chan was speaking at a reception at D’Marquee in Downtown East to thank participating organisations, sponsors and key appointment holders of the NDP 2026 Executive Committee.
He indicated that returning to the Padang would not mean doing the “tried and tested”, though it might be easy to do so.
Instead, he wanted every NDP to be “special”, adding:
We want every NDP to be able to break new ground, to show the world what we are capable of, and not just what we are used to, and what we are familiar with.
He told the audience that he looked forward to their participation and contributions to make NS60 “another special year” for Singaporeans.
Source: Ministry of Defence, Singapore (MINDEF) on Facebook
NDP was held at the Padang from 2023 to 2025 after the Marina Bay Floating Platform closed for redevelopment in 2022.
The event was moved to the National Stadium this year, with Mr Chan promising “something new” at a “fresh venue” at the time.
He thus expressed appreciation to all those who made NDP 2026 a success, recognising their efforts to bring “a fresh, immersive and inclusive NDP for all Singaporeans” by being prepared to try “new ideas”, “explore new frontiers” and being “willing and daring to try new things”.
The only other time NDP was held at the current National Stadium was in 2016, though the old National Stadium used to be the de facto venue for NDP until its closure in 2007.
The Padang has had a seating capacity of 27,000 in previous NDPs — about more than half of the 42,000 spectators in the National Stadium this year.
While that means fewer tickets will be available next year for Singaporeans to ballot for, a plus might be the comeback of traditional elements that were missing in this year’s parade.
They include the mobile column, aerial display and crowd-favourite Red Lions, which did not appear in NDP 2026 due to safety and operational concerns.
Mr Chan, who is also the Coordinating Minister for Public Services, said that NDP 2026 was “a difficult event to put together” as they had to meet the expectations of Singaporeans, who are “very used to” features like the Red Lions and mobile column.
He also noted that the National Stadium had 50% more spectators and its performance stage was 30% bigger than that of the Padang.
He even revealed that he heard participants say after the first rehearsal:
Are you sure we made the right decision to go back to the stadium? Are we sure we can pull this off?
But he praised all those behind the scenes for pulling it off, maintaining that everybody pulled their weight and “made something special out of the ordinary”.
Also read: S’pore teens say seeing generations come together at NDP 2026 made the future feel ‘less scary’
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Featured image from MS News.