Karoo sun smiled on 21st SPAR Kirkwood Wildsfees

Perfect warm winter weather greeted the thousands of festinos who flocked to the 21st annual SPAR Kirkwood Wildsfees over the weekend of June 28 to June 30.

Attendance was six percent up year-on-year to over 42 000 people through the gates, with consistent growth from 2022.

The biggest attendance increase was 45 percent on the Sunday, following a capacity Saturday crowd.

Big attractions were the revitalised Walk on the Wildside marquee with displays by Addo Elephant National Park, Endangered Wildlife Trust, One Land Love it, SANCCOB, and Addo Tourism, Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism; an interactive display of horsemanship and 21 hours of live music on the giant ECPTA stage.

Stallholders report that it was their best post-Covid festival, with some selling out of product on the Saturday.

Food stalls also had a very busy weekend, with the NGK pancake stand selling more than 10 000 pancakes over the weekend.

The annual Kirkwood Wildlife Festival Game Auction turned over around R7 million.

The festival inspired Eastern Cape premier Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane to call for the revitalisation of other events, such as the Biltong and the Mohair Festival in Jansenville.

Speaking at the official opening of the festival, Mabuyane said that festivals such as Kirkwood Wildsfees and National Arts Festival had proven how important such events were as important tourism attractions.

Established to draw tourists to the Sundays River Valley, the festival has sparked investment in a number of guest houses, adventure products, restaurants and boutique hotels in the area.

“The festival brings the whole community together. If it were not for the support of the many volunteers, we would not be able to maintain the high standard that we have set,” says Wildsfees director Jenni Honsbein.

Owned by a non-profit community organisation, the Wildsfees is conceptualised, managed and staged by a small four-member core team headed by a volunteer board consisting of local business and community leaders.

In the month around the festival, it creates around 300 job opportunities.

Surplus funds are invested back into the Sundays River community.