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Events &
Festivals in & around Hermanus
26 & 27 April
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Overstrand Learning
Academy -
Visbash 2008 on
5 April
Hermanus is better known as
the Riviera of the South. Her intoxicating champagne air
sees many visitors frequenting her shores- but during
the month of April she will show her true colours when
the aroma of freshly grilled fish fills the air.
It is a culinary delight for all lovers of things fishy.
On offer will be a multitude of fish dishes from
grilled kingklip to perlemoen. The Visbash is aimed at
uniting the community in a fun-filled day that showcases
the best of the Overstrand. More importantly - it is an
effort to raise funds for the Overstrand Learning
Academy.
Teams will compete with one another to
toe-tapping music, festive faire and art and craft
stalls. For sheer pleasure the Visbash is hard to beat
and if you are looking for good seafood
- good value - and good company -
join us on 5 April for the event on the Hermanus
events calendar.
 
Overstrand
Learning Academy Visbash 5 April
2008
Onrus Caravan Park
(Sunday 6 April in the
case of bad weather)
Business Teams and Individual Teams can enter
in the following categories:
Potjie
Competition – R50.00 per team member
Braai
Competition – R50.00 per team member
Side Dish
Competition – Free
Craft Stalls –
R100.00 (No electricity)
Food Stalls –
R 100.00 (No electricity) (Electricity by arrangement).
We will
endeavour not to duplicate food sold, but cannot be held
to this guarantee.
Competition
categories and prizes will be in the form of vouchers or goods.
Potjiekos
Competition
Main
Ingredient, seafood, no meat
1st
: R1000.00 2nd
: R500.00
Braai
Competition, seafood, no meat
1st
: R1000.00 2nd:
R500.00
Side Dish
Must be cooked
on site
1st
: R300.00 2nd
: R200.00 Best Team
Spirit will be judged
all day
1st : R500.00 Best Stall (Only sponsors
may use their company banners).
Remember: This is an outdoor activity, no cut glass or
lounge sofas required!
1st
: R500.00
Entry Fee at
R10 for adults – Children – Free Entry
Beer and Wine Tent
Jumping
Castles and Pony Rides
Annette Theron
Event Co-ordinator
Mobile: 082 828 5676
HERMANUS WILDFLOWER FESTIVAL
FERNKLOOF
NATURE RESERVE
A Festival is a time of celebration and a concentrated
series of plays, concerts, and shows. Such a festival is
held regularly in a coastal town and that town is Hermanus
and the time is September. It is that marvellous period of
year when Hermanus entice both locals and visitors to
participate in our famous Whale Festival and also in our
equally acclaimed Wildflower Festival. . You can view the
whales while walking, botanise while they breach! Where else
in the world can you do all this other than in Hermanus?
These two Festivals may appear to appeal to very different
tastes but be assured that the Wildflower Festival is not
only for the botanists and lovers of gardens; there is much
much more for you all to enjoy.
First of all, it is SPRING and this means that our beautiful
Fernkloof Nature Reserve, this jewel of Hermanus which
nestles in the mountains above Hermanus and comprises 1800
hectares of pristine mountain and coastal fynbos, is in its
full glory. You will be astounded and delighted by the
beauty that will surround you as you wander round the
gardens and walk in the Nature Reserve. In the Fernkloof
Hall you will be greeted by a breathtaking array of fynbos
arrangements and the theme this year is appropriately ‘150
Years of Hermanus’. No more will be said – you have to come
and see for yourselves.
Not only will there be these spectacular arrangements to
marvel at, there will also be 100s of individually labelled
specimens of fynbos plants which have been carefully picked
over a wide area by our skilled local botanists. One of them
will be on duty at all times to answer any questions that
you may have; you will recognise them by the labels they
wear. Look out for our very own Erica aristata, Pride of
Hermanus, found only on the mountains between Hawston and
Stanford; Protea angustata, a very rare protea which occurs
in only a few localities, including Hermanus; Mimetes
palustris which only grows on the mountain slopes of
Hermanus; Sonderothamnus speciosus, again only found on the
Klein River mountains. These are just a few to whet the
appetite.
If you want to buy floral arrangements, we can supply those
too as a team of ladies will be hard at work in the marquee
and what a momento to take home with you. In the Fernkloof
gardens we have a series of 11 very varied and interesting
mini indigenous gardens that have been specially created for
the Show and on Sunday afternoon they will be selling their
plants so make a real effort to come and buy then. We are
very proud of our ongoing Walks-on-Wheels project which is
now well under way so that those in wheelchairs, the
disabled and mothers with babies in prams are also able to
relax and enjoy the beauty of our gardens.
But there is much more still to see and enjoy at our
Wildflower Festival. Our ‘Big Top’ is back again this year
by popular demand; it is bigger and better than ever and its
theme is A Collection of Beautiful Things. Why don’t you buy
your Christmas presents from us this year? They will be
different and they will be special. There are a whole bevy
of different stands with masses of exciting things to see
and buy, there are wonderful homemade ‘goodies’ that are
always so much in demand, there is even a special Treasure
Hunt with a difference to delight the younger ones. Come and
see and be prepared to dig deep into your pockets! Last, but
most certainly not least, there is the FOOD, those
delicious, delectable and divine teas and lunches that we
are famed for;; our ladies have been cooking up a storm and
it is worth coming all this way and braving all that traffic
just to sample what they have on offer. Relax in our lovely
gardens, breathe in that wonderful air.
Come and see, come and spend and come and eat at the
Hermanus Wildflower Festival. SEE YOU THERE!
Information supplied by Charlotte Kirkman
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South African
festivals
JANUARY
• Origin Festival
Where: Dutoitskloof, Western Cape
Website: www.originfestival.com
The Origin Festival is found at Rainbow's End farm near Dutoitskloof in
January. A gathering of trance music travellers, the three-year-old
festival is organised by Nano Records and Vortex Productions. Lots of
kites, tie-dye, hair, peace, love and electronica resonate in the lovely
mountains of the Western Cape.
FEBRUARY
• FNB Dance Umbrella
Where: Johannesburg, Gauteng
Website: www.at.artslink.co.za
A festival of contemporary choreography and dance, for 18 years the FNB
Dance Umbrella has presented work ranging from community-based dance
troupes to international companies. It’s launched many South African
choreographers into international dance, including Vincent Mantsoe,
Robyn Orlin and Boyzie Cekwana. T
MARCH
• Cape Town Jazz Festival
Where: Cape Town, Western Cape
Website: www.capetownjazzfest.com
Cape Town International Jazz takes the stage every year on the last
weekend in March. It’s a two-day festival featuring some 40
international and African acts performing on five stages to an audience
of 15 000. The jazz is accompanied by photographic and other
exhibitions.
• Lambert’s Bay Kreeffees
Where: Lambert's Bay, West Coast, Western Cape
Website: www.kreeffeeslambertsbaai.co.za
Kreef is Afrikaans for crayfish, and a fees can be both festival and
feast. At the Kreeffees, held every March in the West Coast town of
Lambert’s Bay, you’ll feast on fresh crayfish and get festive at rock
concerts by some of South Africa’s favourite musicians. There’s also
bungee jumping, aerial displays, a half-marathon, beer tents and more.
• Oppikoppi Easter Festival
Where: Northam, North West
Website: www.oppikoppi.co.za
Although smaller than the Oppikoppi bushveld bash in August, the
Oppikoppi Easter Festival is the highlight of the year for some music
lovers. Held over the Easter holidays - late March or early April - the
show has one stage only and draws a traditional blues-and-folk crowd of
roughly 1 500 people.
• Tonteldoos Peach Festival
Where: Dullstroom, Mpumalanga
Website: www.dullstroom.co.za
The Tonteldoos Peach Festival happens in late March or early April at
Tonteldoos Farm near Dullstroom, two hours from Johannesburg. It offers
peaches and pretty much everything that can be made from the fruit,
including peach mampoer.
• Sedgefield Lakes Festival
Where: Sedgefield, Western Cape
Website: www.visitknysna.co.za
Held in March, the Sedgefield Lakes Festival has an action-packed
programme for adventure and sport lovers. Highlights include a coastal
paragliding classic, a rock and surf angling competition, a cycling race
and a Gowild adventure race.
• Windybrow Theatre Festival
Where: Johannesburg, Gauteng
Website: www.windybrowarts.co.za
The Windybrow Theatre Festival, which takes place in March, showcases
work by local and international artists.
APRIL
• Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees
Where: Oudtshoorn, Western Cape
Website: www.kknk.co.za
The Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn features well-known
and young up-and-coming artists in dance and theatre. Started as an
Afrikaans alternative to the mainly English National Arts Festival, KKNK
has 200 different shows on three different stages.
• Splashy Fen
Where: Underberg, KwaZulu-Natal
Website: www.splashyfen.co.za
The Splashy Fen music festival has attracted thousands of people to a
farm near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal for 16 years. In early days the
focus was folk, light rock and black music styles such as mbaqanga and
iscathamiya. This has now broadened to include mainstream and
alternative rock and pop. The site has electricity, telephones,
ablutions, market stalls, three stages, and medical and security
personnel. There are great bed-and-breakfasts in nearby towns for those
who believe music festivals can be enjoyed without mud.
• Tulbagh Goes Dutch
Where: Tulbagh, Western Cape
Website: www.tulbaghtourism.org.za
Tulbagh Tourism describes its two-day Dutch Festival as "a Gezellig
Feestje for the whole family". In April the town's Church Street with
its beautiful Cape Dutch architecture hosts cultural activities,
appetising spijs en drank temptations and authentic treasures. It
includes a traditional Dutch beer garden and a tulip exhibition at the
Volksmuseum.
• Philippolis Witblits Festival
Where: Philippolis, Free State
Website: www.philippolis.org.za
The Philippolis Witblits Festival, held in early April, will give you a
taste of a proud local tradition - witblits (Afrikaans for "white
lightning") is South African moonshine. Held in the oldest town in the
Free State, the festival has boeresports for the kids, food, drink and
more witblits. Phillipolis also offers an artist's retreat, the Laurens
van der Post Memorial Garden, the Transgariep Museum, safari packages,
birdwatching and fishing.
MAY
• Prince Albert Olive, Food & Wine Festival
Where: Prince Albert, Western Cape
Website: www.patourism.co.za
The two-day Prince Albert Food and Wine Festival, held in the Swartberg
region of the Western Cape in May, offers a whole lot more than just the
region's famous olives and wine. There's an art exhibition, beer tents,
live music, witblits tastings, crafts for kids, historic tours, a cycle
race, an olive pip-spitting competition, culinary demonstrations, a
midnight ghost walk, stalls, cabaret, a dance and more.
• Pink Loerie Mardi Gras
Where: Knysna, Western Cape
Website: www.pinkloerie.com
The Knysna loerie is a green bird, but the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras is
different. A gay festival held in the beautiful coastal town of Knysna
in May, the Mardi Gras offers four days of non-stop entertainment for
anyone who enjoys a party.
• Riebeek Kasteel Olive Festival
Where: Riebeek Kasteel, Western Cape
Website: www.riebeekvalley.info
The Riebeek Kasteel Olive Festival takes place in the Swartland area of
the Western Cape in May. A feast of wine and the best olives in SA, the
festival also has an art competition, live entertainment, stalls and
lots of food.
JUNE
• National Arts Festival
Where: Grahamstown, Eastern Cape
Website: www.nafest.co.za
The Grahamstown National Arts Festival, held in late June or early July
every year, is South Africa's oldest, biggest and best-known arts
festival. The 10-day event offers culture hounds every indulgence of
theatre, music, song, dance, film and a whole lot more. If there's one
South African festival you have to attend, this is it.
JULY
• Knysna Oyster Festival
Where: Knysna, Western Cape
Website: www.oysterfestival.co.za
The coastal town of Knysna is famous for its oysters, and increasingly
famous for the July festival that celebrates them. In addition to oyster
braais, oyster tasting, oyster-eating competitions and other molluscular
activities, there's live entertainment and lots of sporting events -
cycling, running, canoeing, down-hill racing and sailing.
• Calitzdorp Port Festival
Where: Calitzdorp, Western Cape
Website: www.sappa.co.za
The Klein Karoo town of Calitzdorp is the port-wine Capital of South
Africa. Its annual port festival, held over a weekend in July, was
inaugurated by the SA Port Producers Association (Sappa) in 1992 and
showcases the top 15 South African port makers. There's a blind port
tasting judged by SA’s top wine critics, a potjiekos competition and
ostrich farm tours, as well as the annual South African boules
championships.
AUGUST
• Oppikoppi Bushveld Festival
Where: Northam, North West
Website: www.oppikoppi.co.za
Held in August, Oppikoppi has been showcasing the country's original
musical talent for 11 years. It started on Oppikoppi - "op die koppie"
in Afrikaans, or "on the hill" - farm in the bushveld, made a turn in
Worcester in the Cape, moved to Tshwane for three years and finally
settled for good at the original venue in 2004. There are three
permanent thatched stages, a smaller comedy stage and a stage for more
chilled music at the top of the koppie. Oppikoppi has helped establish
many South African musicians' careers, but it's not for the
faint-hearted. This is real bushveld: hot, dry and covered in red dust
and thorn trees. Expect to shower a lot when you get home. (Oppikoppi
also hosts an Easter Festival in March.)
• Joy of Jazz
Where: Johannesburg, Gauteng
Website: www.joyofjazz.co.za
Johannesburg's biggest annual jazz festival is an ideal family outing,
featuring a range of musical styles but with a strong emphasis on jazz.
Over 200 local and international artists perform at different venues
across the city, particularly in Newtown.
• Hantam Vleisvees
Where: Calvinia, Northern Cape
Website: www.vleisvees.co.za
Calvinia in the Northern Cape is sheep country, and this festival
celebrates meat. There's meat braaied, stewed, curried, in pita, on
sosaties, in potjies - you can even pick up a done-to-perfection sheep's
head for a mere R30. Now in its 16th year, the three-day Hantam
Vleisvees has a music concert, a street party, a vintage car rally and,
a highlight for many, the Miss Vleisvees competition - a glittering
affair with dinner and dancing. T
SEPTEMBER
• Arts Alive
Where: Johannesburg, Gauteng
Website: www.artsalive.co.za
Arts Alive, held in September and now in its 14th year, features a heady
mix of dance, visual art, poetry and music at venues in the Joburg inner
city. The main concert, held at the Johannesburg Stadium, headlines
international superstars such as 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes. Over 600
artists perform during the four-day festival, with most shows at various
venues in Newtown. The ever-popular Jazz on the Lake is held on the
final day.
• Aardklop Arts Festival
Where: Potchefstroom, Free State
Website: www.aardklop.co.za
Aardklop Arts Festival offers a feast of arts and an all-round good jol
for five days in late September and early October. Now in its eighth
year, Aardklop - Afrikaans roughly translated as "earth beat" - has over
90 productions, with classical music, jazz, hard rock, cabaret, visual
arts, theatre, circus performances, opera, African and World music,
poetry and more, ending with the OppiAarde rock festival on the final
day.
• Woodstock
Where: Hartbeeshoek, North West
Website: www.woodstock.co.za
Woodstock is the largest youth-oriented music and lifestyle festival in
South Africa, now in its seventh year. In addition to mainstream music,
the festival offers a market of crafters and alternative lifestyle
products over four days. It is held at Hartbeeshoek Holiday resort near
Hartbeespoort Dam in North West.
• Gariep Kunstefees
Where: Kimberley, Northern Cape
Website: www.gariepfees.co.za
Now in its sixth year, the Gariep Kunstefees (arts festival) has an
impressive line-up of local musicians, a film festival showcasing South
Africa's new film-makers, as well as art exhibitions and children's
theatre.
• Hermanus Whale Festival
Where: Hermanus, Western Cape
Website: www.whalefestival.co.za
Every year, southern right whales travel thousands of miles to the Cape
south coast to mate and calve in the bays. Join the villagers of
Hermanus for an entertainment-packed festival, in the town with the best
land-based whale watching in the world. The next Hermanus Whale Festival
will be held from 234to 28 September 2008.
• Rustler's Valley Spring Equinox Gathering
Where: Fouriesburg, Free State
Website: www.rustlers.co.za
Rustler’s Valley in the eastern Free State was the first to host music
festivals in South Africa, although it now does so on a much smaller
scale.
• Awesome Africa Music Festival
Where: Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Website: www.awesomeafricafestival.co.za
The Standard Bank Awesome Africa Music Festival is now in its seventh
year, held in Durban's Albert Park. It has three stages of non-stop
music, with over 200 artists from more than 20 countries. The focus is
on collaboration with musicians from Africa and beyond.
• Knysna Gastronomica
Where: Knysna, Western Cape
Website: www.gastronomicakny.co.za
The year 2005 sees the launch of Knysna Gastronomica, a celebration of
good food, wine and culture in the coastal town of Knysna.
• Prince Albert Agricultural Show
Where: Prince Albert, Western Cape
Website: www.patourism.co.za
Join the people of Prince Albert as they celebrate their agricultural
heritage in September. The show offers homecrafts, art and flowers,
horses on show, motorbike obstacle route, sheep and angora goat
competitions, local products, delicious food, bar facilities and
entertainment for young and old. The farm breakfast and steak braai are
a must.
OCTOBER
• Bosman Weekend
Where: Groot Marico, North West
Website: www.marico.co.za
Herman Charles Bosman was one of South Africa's greatest writers, and
this weekend festival celebrates his work in dry town of Groot Marico,
the setting for many of his stories. Some of South Africa's top actors
read from and perform Bosman's work; there's also good food, good
company - and lots of mampoer.
NOVEMBER
• Ficksburg Cherry Festival
Where: Ficksburg, Free State
Website: www.cherryfestival.co.za
One of the oldest festivals in South Africa, the Ficksburg Cherry
Festival is now in its 37th year, attracting 20 000 visitors to this
small eastern Free State town. The scenery is magnificent, and the
festival offers cherry and asparagus tastings, tours, picnics, music,
and the Miss Cherry Blossom and Miss Cherry Pip competitions.
DECEMBER
• Rustler's Valley
Where: Fouriesburg, Free State
Website: www.rustlers.co.za
Rustler’s Valley in the eastern Free State was the first to host music
festivals in South Africa, although it now does so on a much smaller
scale. Rustlers also offers the African Sweat Hut, permaculture design courses, a backpacker's lodge, cottages, a game
reserve, the Saucery Restaurant and Marimba House. The majestic scenery
on the foothills of the Maluti Mountains alone is worth the trip.
• Spier Summer Festival
Where: Stellenbosch, Western Cape
Website: www.spierarts.co.za
In the lush winelands of the Western Cape, at the amphitheatre on the
Spier Estate, the annual Spier Summer Festival offers four months of
music, opera, dance, stand-up comedy and theatre. Now 10 years old, the
festival runs from December to March.
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