With not one but two marquees in the lifestyle village and over 200 open-air food and craft stalls, shoppers at this year’s Nelson Mandela Bay Splash Festival will be spoilt for choice.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors are again expected to sample the delights of the festival that takes place at Hobie Beach in Port Elizabeth from April 22 to 25.
“We introduced the lifestyle village marquee for the first time last year,” said stalls coordinator Karen Doyle. “It was such a huge success, we’ve had to put up a second one due to the demand for covered stalls.”
Doyle said organisers had travelled extensively to country markets across South Africa, sourcing a fresh assortment of high-end products, including deli and organic foods, handmade jewellery, clothing and other crafts.
“What we’ve created is a mix of home-grown and handcrafted items under one roof.” She said their main aim had been to improve both the quality and variety of products available.
“For the foodies we have some really divine coffee stalls, as well as scrumptious cupcakes and speciality pastries.”
Other deli-style foods on offer include Greek confectionery, Norwegian salmon and seafood pâtés, biltong, bottled preserves and organic products using everything from chillies to olives, mangos and macadamia nuts.
Doyle said the lifestyle village would also be a treasure trove of gorgeous gift ideas.
“There will be all sorts of lovely things on sale – like handmade jewellery, stunning handbags, classic Indian clothing and beautifully bottled essential oil perfumes.”
With seating areas inside and outside, festivalgoers can feed their appetite for something different in between all the watersports action and live entertainment.
According to Doyle, there are still a few spaces available in the lifestyle village. These would however need to be “very special products”, she said.
As far as the open-air stalls were concerned, festival organiser Loryn van Eck said they had been inundated with applications.
She said many new stallholders had come on board because the festival does not clash with the Absa Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees this year. “Food stalls filled up very quickly and we have many on a waiting list.”
Van Eck said there would be a few mouth-watering additions, such as Thai cuisine, kudu venison, spit roasts as well as many of the standard festival favourites. “The craft stalls are basically full, with only one or two gaps here and there.”
As part of its commitment to community development in Nelson Mandela Bay, the Splash Festival will once again donate the proceeds from the sale of stalls to the Community Chest. The festival has been raising funds for the organisation since its inception 21 years ago.
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