Art and thrift market Mercury Festival draws large crowds at Suntec amid queue debate

Another visitor, who goes by Hamdapickle26 online, said they joined the queue at noon and left two hours later, only receiving their entry notification at around 4pm.

Ivor Lim, the Malaysian co-founder of the beauty brand Hygr, also took to social media to comment on the crowds – not because of the inconvenience, but to express regret and “FOMO” (fear of missing out) over not opening a booth at the event.

Not everyone agreed that the crowd situation could be attributed solely to Mercury Festival.

Several commenters pointed out that Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre was hosting multiple events simultaneously. Adjacent halls were occupied by Twilight: Flea & Feast, Not So Little Fair and Doki! Doki! Anime Market – all of which drew significant crowds over the same weekend.

Others suggested that the virtual queue system itself may have contributed to the perception of extremely long waiting times.

One attendee who goes by Nic wrote on Instagram that there were more than 500 people ahead of her when she joined the queue at 11.30am. Although this suggested a long wait, she managed to do so within an hour.

She speculated that some visitors may have wandered around Suntec City while waiting and missed their queue notifications, creating gaps in the line.

Another commenter, Nana, questioned whether people were registering remotely through the QR code before arriving at the venue.

“At 12.30 when it first opened, there were already 7,000 people waiting – it makes no sense,” the user wrote.

While visitors debated the queue situation online, other visitors and many participating vendors described the event positively.