Kowie gears up for first Easter Festival
Multiple sporting events, beach concert among highlights
It’s a little more than three weeks to the inaugural Port Alfred Easter Festival March 29 to April 1, when the town will showcase its vibrant sports and culture and demonstrate all that the Sunshine Coast’s gem has to offer.
Port Alfred is preparing for a flow of competitors and spectators for the sports events, and fans for the Bands on the Beach concert at Guido’s.
Adding to the festival vibe will be a street carnival on Friday.
The latest addition to the festival is the Masibambisana Amateur Boxing Tournament at the Jauka Hall on Saturday at 11am, sponsored by the Royal St Andrews Hotel and Pick n Pay Port Alfred
Two surfing tournaments are the anchor events of the festival. The Rip Curl GromSearch Port Alfred, presented by the Royal St Andrews Hotel, is the second contest in a fiveevent series at prime surfing venues along our coastline. The first Rip Curl GromSearch took place in Cape Town and was a great success. This event caters for boys and girls in the U12, U14, Premier U16, and U18 divisions.
The Rip Curl Cup, presented by the Royal St Andrews Hotel, is a Surfing SA specialty event with two divisions open men and open women it is open to anyone.
What non-surfing local may not know is that East Beach in Port Alfred is highly regarded as a prime surf spot by surfers such as 11-time world champion Kelly Slater and current fourth-ranked World Surf League Championship Tour surfer Jordy Smith.
The Rip Curl GromSearch and the
Rip Curl Cup are both supported by Sea Harvest. Entries will open soon on the Surfing SA website.
LinkOnline will be sponsoring free Wi-Fi hotspots down at the beach for competitors and spectators, and there will be free downloadable high-action images from the surf events.
While the Rip Curl tournaments are running at East Beach, there will also be an SA Bodyboarding Challenge at West Beach. All three of these contests will be under the watchful eyes of the NSRI Station 11 water safety crew.
Events at the Port Alfred Easter Festival
● The Rip Curl GromSearch and the Rip Curl Cup, both presented by The Royal St Andrews Hotel.
● The SA Bodyboarding Challenge.
● The Species Spectacular Easter Fishing Competition (Port Alfred River and Ski Boat Club).
● Port Alfred parkrun.
● The Cycle Asylum 10km Fun Ride.
● The Sports n All Marina Easter Swim.
● Sunshine Coast Open Tennis Tournament.
● Sunshine Coast Junior Tennis Tournament.
● Easter Two-ball Alliance Golf Tournament.
● Sunshine Coast Open Pairs Bowls Tournament.
● Port Alfred Easter Croquet Tournament.
● Nemato Change A Life Handball.
● Street Carnival.
● Bands At The Beach Music Festival in aid of NSRI, featuring Georgetown, Arno Carstens, Wonderboom, aKING and December Streets
(https://bit.ly/EasterFestBands).
● The Masibambisana Amateur Boxing Tournament presented by the Masibambisana Boxing Academy in conjunction with the Sunshine Life Centre.
● More information about the Port Alfred Easter Festival on
https://easterfestival.co.za/ and the festival’s Facebook page, (PortAlfredEasterFestival) or email