Gallery
KAROO NEWS - "We were ecstatic. It was incredible, a resounding success."
So says Fulvio de Stafanis, one of the organisers of the first Karoo Handmade Festival that debuted in Nieu-Bethesda last weekend.
Fulvio told Graaff-Reinet Advertiser the outcome of this two and a half day event passed their wildest imagination.
"It was not a Nieu-Bethesda and Graaff-Reinet affair, which a lot of people expected, but an Eastern Cape show with visitors from as far as Port Elizabeth, East London, Somerset East, Prins Albert, George, even a couple from Bloemfontein who drove down for the weekend. The locals were happy and so were the makers. Everyone loved the venue. It was more a festival than a market with nearly 700 people attending.
"Not to shabby if you reckon our target was to get 500 visitors. Friday was a bit slow with about 92 visitors but a steady stream on Saturday saw just under 500 people entering. We suddenly had a traffic jam in town."
Sam Sithole from Cape Town shows of some of his beautiful handmade birds.
Fluvio said the wine tasting evening with Vrede and Lust was sold out and the gallery opening, with local artists displaying their works, were well attended.
"But we will start planning very early in the new year for the next event. More live music will be on the cards and we might add Thursday to the programme with the focus on more evening events. In short, we want the event to be more like a festival than purely a market."
Stylish local Suzette du Plessis (right) listens attentively while Belinda Naudé (Wywynnya) shows her the mosquito repellant products.
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