RESIDENTS of Nelson Mandela Bay of all ages have three days of fun to look forward to with the annual Splash Festival taking place from April 7 to 10, at King’s Beach.
The festival was recently launched by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality at Happy Valley, and promises a musical performance line-up of several local and national artists, along with a beach arena, food court with more than 40 food trucks and stalls, over 200 craft stalls, an Easter egg hunt, food demonstrations with celebrity chefs, and much more.
Making its return for the first time since lockdown is the Champion Pro-Wrestling.
Celebrities expected at the festival include J’Something, local DJ Duo, Jay Em, Celeste Ntuli, Zola Nene and Biggy, among others.
The Splash Festival’s theme this year is, Go Big or Go Home.
Speaking at the launch, MMC for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Bassie Kamana, said that Nelson Mandela Bay has reached a stage where it’s either a case of going big or going home.
“For the past year we have been pushing ourselves through different international and national events that we have hosted to perfect our craft and create memorable events. We can now confidently say we are not turning back. We will go all the way in all events that we host,” he said.
“Following a devastating period of COVID-19, which put a halt to all events across the country, the popular Splash Festival came back last year, attracting thousands of entertainment fanatics, visitors and tourists from across the country. This year the city has decided to package these Easter festivities into three major events.”
To round off the Easter celebrations, apart from Splash, the metro has announced two other major events of national standard, the Northern Gems Music Festival and the Isixhosa Music Festival, both taking place in April.
Kamana added that the metro has invested more than R8 million into the three events.
“We are proud to know that what we have invested in these events will benefit our local artists and businesses and create working opportunities in a province that is ravaged by unemployment and poverty,” he added.
The first event will be the Splash Festival. The Isixhosa Music Festival will take place on April 29 at the St George’s Park Cricket Stadium, with gates opening at 10:00 and the event commencing at noon. The tone for this event will have been set through an educational workshop a month prior, scheduled to focus on the upcoming artists in areas like music business, brand development and other elements within the industry of entertainment. The workshop will be led by Ringo Madlingozi and Putco Mafani.
Big Afro Soul artists like Madlingozi, Nathi Mankayi, Amanda Black and one of the national Eastern Cape jazz artists, Dumza Maswana, among others, will be performing.
Ticket prices start at R265, depending on the package purchased, and are available at Pick n Pay stores as well as on www.webtickets.com.
The third event, the Northern Gems Festival, will also take place on April 29, at the Gelvandale Sport Stadium from 10:00, with no entry fee. This festival will feature local artists ranging from Early B to Idols South Africa sensation, Bevin Samuels. The festival will also host a sub-event to cater to senior citizens. Event organiser, Zaakira Allen, called it a festival of hope.
“It will be a family event, characterised by good music, good food and entertainment for the kids. This event has been packaged to promote the northern areas’ rich culture and promote social cohesion,” she said.
