Organisers of Sugar Festival Confirm EvEnt SEptEmBEr 1
The popular Lautoka Sugar Festival will be held at the Churchill Park Carnival Grounds on September 1.
The date was confirmed by Sugar Festival Foundation Fiji president Pusp Raj.
It will be after a lapse of two years that the annual festival is being held again.
The reason the event was not staged previously was because of COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings.
“We have already decided and we had written to the Lautoka City Council which has booked the ground for September 1,” he said.
“The Ministry of Local Government has some sort of regulation for all festival committees and the council is waiting for those rules that will allow us to operate.
“Time is not in our favour. Members are getting frustrated but I can’t dictate to the ministry, which will decide.”
He said it took the the Sugar Festival Foundation six months to prepare for the carnival
This include working on magazines, getting the right contractors, flea market sellers and stall vendors in.
The committee cannot hold it at another location because of the number of patrons is usually 5000 to 10,000 or more a night.
A portion of the ground has also been taken up by the carpark where the ferris wheel used to be.
“We’re working with a small space. but we can manage, as long as they give the approval but it will be a tight schedule,” he said.
A Festive Regulations Framework workshop was hosted by the Ministry for Local Government and Community Development in 2021 for municipal councils.
This was to enlighten councils on the new guidelines to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of festivals.
The Minister for Local Government and Community Development Premila Kumar said she would provide a detailed response.
“I need to find out, as far as I know, the regulation is already done, I need to check with my team,” she said.
Questions emailed and phone calls made to the LCC chief executive officer Mohammed Anees Khan remained unanswered.