Clanwilliam flower show cancelled due to drought

THE drought in the Western Cape has forced organisers of the Clanwilliam Wild Flower Show to cancel the event.

The annual event was set to run from August 25 to September 2 .

“It is with a heavy heart that we eventually decided to cancel the show,” said Alida Stone, the event’s committee chairperson.

“The extreme drought that the whole country is experiencing is the cause of the very late blooming of the flowers and plants. We don’t have enough flowers to build the displays for the show.”

Up to 400 species of freshly cut flowers and plants are used during the festival for colourful displays at the town’s historic Flower Church.

“We could not go ahead with the flower show. This year, the flowers are struggling and we only pick when abundant, in keeping with conservation,” Stone said.

“Conservation is still our main priority.”

She said scheduled music shows, art competitions, hiking trails, as well as stalls where a variety of products will be on sale, will go ahead.

“We are currently working on an audio-visual show that will be presented in the Ou Tronk Museum in Clanwilliam,” Stone said.

“This will show visitors exactly how they go about building the stunning displays for the show in the Flower Church every year.”

Cape Nature Cederberg conservation manager Rika du Plessis said the rainfall for the first seven months of 2017 had been the worst in 64 years.

On Monday, the Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Department reported that the average water level for dams across the Western Cape had increased and is currently at 28.1% –a 1% increase from last week.

At this time last year, the average dam level was 68%.

Figures from the department showed that Theewaterskloof is at 22% (2016: 47%); Voëlvlei Dam is at 22.4% (2016: 51%) and Clanwilliam Dam 28% (2016: 97%).

“The average rainfall measured at Algeria Forestry Station is 724mm per year. Last year, it was 545mm and if we continue with the rain pattern that we are currently experiencing, we won’t even reach 300mm by the end of this year,” said Du Plessis.