The Kirkwood Wildsfees will be held over to June
2022 in support of government efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19, according
to the chairperson of the festival board, Paul Marais.
“We are responding directly to the call by president Cyril
Ramaphosa in his January 11 address to the nation, where he called on us to
avoid what has been described as the three Cs – closed spaces, crowded places
and close contact with others.
“Even though the Kirkwood Wildsfees is largely an open-air
festival, we will not risk the health and lives of the 45 000
festival-goers, and those of the people living and working in the Sundays River
Valley,” he says.
The 2020 festival was moved to 2021 in accordance with the
Covid-19 regulations.
Marais is confident that the festival will be held from June
24 to June 26 2022.
“We have taken all the steps necessary to keep the festival
financially sound and to secure the commitment of our core organising team to
see us through the next few months.
“Thanks to the support from our naming sponsor, SPAR Eastern
Cape, we are able to keep core functions running up to November this year. By
then we should know if the vaccine rollout is bringing down infections, and
whether festivals will be allowed in 2022”.
“If it does go ahead next year, it will be one of the best
ever, and we expect to have to put a limit on the number of tickets available
for each of the three days,” he adds.
A selection of South Africa’s top performers has already
been booked.
In 2020 the artists who had been booked for the festival
were given the option of retaining their deposits if they agreed to appear in
2021.
This agreement is being rolled over to 2022 with those
wanting to continue with the agreement.
November 30 has been given as a cut-off date for making a decision
on the 2022 festival in order to retain the integrity of the organisers,
businesses and the people of the Sundays River Valley.
“It is a community-owned festival, with the board members
being made up of top business and community leaders from the valley who
volunteer their time,” says Marais.
Deposits paid by stallholders have been ring-fenced, and
will be repaid in December if the decision is made to close down the festival
company in November.
“We will have sufficient money in the bank to meet all our
obligations, and to leave behind an intact legacy which could be revived at
some time in the future,” he says.
