As the countdown to the highly-anticipated VOC Summer Festival 2017 officially begins, the festival organisers have released key details around the upcoming event. The community festival, organised by the Voice of the Cape, attracts thousands of people from the Mother City for a weekend of events at the Vygieskraal stadium in Athlone from the 7th to the 10th December 2017.
This year’s theme ‘Carnival’ aims to bring back the nostalgia of the American funfairs that were popular in the 1960s and 1970s – a mix of sounds, colours, fun play and street food. The VOC Summer Festival has a particularly family-friendly quality.
The festival will see some of the city’s best local artists, with hours of live music and performances and cultural events for the youth and the elderly.
Sport will take centre stage with rugby, soccer, touch rugby and athletics amongst the codes on show.
The festival also features more than 40 street-food and corporate food vendors, and gives a number of community entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase local cuisine.
Ahead of the busy festive season, festival-goers will also be able to get some retail therapy at the myriad of clothing, shoes, jewellery and make-up stalls, including the exhibition marquee, which promotes corporate products and services.
For festival-goers, the parking space will be accommodated at the Hamadia’s rugby field next to the stadium.
“There will be marshals and security and fire extinguish around the area and the traffic department has come on board, who will all assist with making your parking experience pleasant. Once you leave the parking area, you will cross the road and meet up with the queue to purchase your entrance ticket and the entrance is right next door,” explained festival convenor Gasant Fridie.
The back entrance which is in Johnson road will be used for people with disabilities. Entrance fee is R25 for adult and R10 for disabled, pensioners and children under the age of 12.
“We tried to keep the price as low as possible to accommodate everyone,” said Fridie.
Tea Garden
One of the biggest highlights of our festivals is the tea garden, which will open on the Thursday evening after magrib with a dikr. The tea garden will open on Friday after Jumuah and will be open until late.
The venue will be open at 9:00am on the Saturday and it will also be the venue to the kiddies party which stars at 10:00am until 13:00pm. A presentation by IPSA students on the Balfour Declaration will take place from 13:30pm until 15:30pm in the tea garden.
“While festival goers are enjoying all these entertainment they can also purchase a cup of tea with dessert in the tea garden,” said tea garden coordinator Achmat Jacobs.
Sunday has two highlights, the annual tea garden breakfast and a holiday draw. The theme is Manhattan and guests are asked to come dressed infancy hats and attire. There will be best dress prizes and a lucky draw from Legends Tours for a prize to the value of R30 000.
The second highlight will be the Golden Hour show by Boeta Yusuf Fisher, in the tea garden from 13:30 until 15:30. The entertainment will then start again.
There are still tickets available for the breakfast at the cost of R120 which will take place from 9am -11am. Contact the VOC reception on 021 442 3500 or for tickets in the Mitchell’s Plain area, call Cassiem Gamiet on 082 672 1666.
Entertainment
Some of the best names in local entertainment will light up the stage at the VOC Summer Festival 2017 this weekend. Organisers have confirmed that there will be 15 artists every night, over the three day weekend from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th December at Vygieskraal Stadium. Amongst them are Nur Abrahams, Mujaahid George, Faghrie Isaacs, Ikeraam and MCs such as Mr Personality and Haron Kenny. The opening will officially commence from after Maghrib. The entertainment kicks off after Esha salaah on Friday night.
On the Saturday afternoon, there is another first at the festival, the Western Province Drill Squad, who will be performing from 13:30om until Maghrib salah.
“What makes this performance so special is that all the participants are from schools and the learners are from disadvantaged backgrounds on the Cape Flats. The opening will officially open from after Maghrib at approximately 9:50pm on Friday will be for an hour,” says Petersen.
“Everything is in place and listeners should not worry about parking or security. In the youth tent we will have tight security.”
“We invite everyone to come and enjoy the festival, come meet and greet the presenters enjoy the food and the best entertainment Cape Town has to offer.”
The festival will officially start on Thursday 7th with a dhikr, followed by all on air programmes after Jumuah on Friday. VOC
