From the news desk

VOC festival returns in summer


The Voice of the Cape’s social calendar is never complete without its annual festival and this year, the event returns to the heart of summer. In the official launch on air on Monday night, it was announced the community event will take place from the 1st to the 4th December 2016 at the Vygieskraal stadium in Athlone.

The organizing committee said they learnt “hard lessons” after the festival was held in May last year and Cape Town’s cold autumn impacted on festival numbers. After “going back to the drawing board”, organizers have moved the festival back to December, when learners are on holiday and most employees are on leave.

With Cape Town’s holiday atmosphere in December, organizers hope the event’s timing will bring back the energy and vibe synonymous with the festival, widely regarded as one of the biggest community festivals in the city.

“The point is to bring as much people to the festival as possible. The funds we collect from the proceeds of the festival goes to the running of the station. The radio station does not get subsidised so we really depend on the proceeds,” said festival convenor Rashaad Frydie.

Despite rising living costs, organizers have managed to keep the prices of the festival tickets unchanged for the past five years. This will be a sigh of relief for big families who often frequent the event.

Tickets:
Adults – R20
Children under 12 – R10
Pensioners – R10
Parking – free

Parking space will be accommodated at the rugby field next to the stadium. 1500 can be accommodated there.
Stall prices also remain unchanged. This year, food stalls will cost R2800, non-food stalls will cost R2000 and site stalls, which includes large set ups such as caravans, used has been reduced to R4500 for the full duration of the festival.

The stalls will go on sale on Saturday 24 September and stall holders will be issued with a queue number.

“Stall holders usually come in at 6am and the number secures their place in the queue. If your number is called out and you are not present, we move onto the next person,” assistant convenor Cassim Noordien explained.

The tea garden has been relocated to the hockey turf and there stallholders and guests can expect more space. Following complaints that the food stalls were too congested, organisers have moved it to the one side of the stadium.

Furthermore, the city council has implored the organising team to deploy a safety officer, who can oversee every installation that takes place at the precinct of the festival.

“The tea garden creates a lot of congestion so we needed to relocate to the Johnson road makbara and behind the stalls close the hockey field. We also removed the food stalls by the rugby field side and placed them where the tea garden used to be,” Fryddie explained.

For the business community, there will be an improved corporate exhibition, aimed at promoting local businesses, products and VOC’s corporate clients. The festival’s marketing convenor Hassiem Bastra said companies who advertise with VOC do not have the advantage of visual advertising, so the corporate exhibition is the opportune platform to showcase their services and products.

Unfortunately, there will be no ATM machines at the event, which may pose a problem for festival goers. Organisers said the banks have declined their request, as there are safety implications at large events.

Asked about bringing the festival back to the CBD, Fryddie said the old Green Point stadium had proven to be the most successful venue. However, any venue in the city centre is not feasible at present.

“We had plans to take the festival back to the CBD but there are no practical venues. The other venue is the old Green Point track but then we have a parking problem. Bringing the festival to the people, closer to where they live, we feel is much better.”

To get involved in the festival or to book stalls, contact:

Rashaad Frydie   082 770 5192

Sulaiman Gangat 073 083 2175

Cassiem Nordien 072 566 5293.

VOC


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