No wind left in Oyster Fest sails
In the wake of the Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival 2018, many local businesses are lamenting diminishing crowds, inadequate midweek family events and last-minute marketing of certain events. This is despite an increase in the number of entries for the cycling events and the separation of functions that were spread out between the high school sports grounds, Loerie Park, Woodmill Lane, Thesen Island and others.
At a meeting last week between members of Knysna Tourism and Knysna Accommodation Association (KAA), the issue was briefly touched on – ahead of Tourism’s official feedback on the festival, expected next month – when concerns were raised regarding the “midweek slump” and possible reasons behind this.
Colleen Harding of KAA said general consensus between members is that the first weekend of the festival was much quieter than usual.
“The festival feeling was not felt all over town, and if there was an increase in entrants it just wasn’t very evident,” she remarked, but adding that the second weekend was much busier in terms of bookings.
“The organisers really need to look at sort of re-engineering the cycle race… Right now it clashes with similar events all over the country,” she said.
‘Information did not reach people’
Harding added that many locals did not know what events were happening where. “It was a good idea to spread events at different venues, but the marketing of that information did not reach people,” she said, pointing to Loerie Park as a venue this year attracting only a handful of people.
The cancellation of the popular Flavours of Knysna event was also a factor that excluded the local community from participating, it was noted.
The owner of a restaurant in Grey Street, who asked not to be named, said it was the smallest crowds he had seen in many years: “Definitely down from previous years – retail shop owners have also been complaining,” he said.
Members of the two organisations also stated that the greater community was not benefiting from the festival, and some believe that Pick n Pay is monopolising what could be opportunities for local residents, such as the retail giant’s food trucks at certain venues to the exclusion of other entrepreneurs.
The issue of transport was also brought up, with one member stating, “Europcar took preference over the local transport industry and many people lost out.”
It was not all negative, however, with members praising the Momentum events as well as the Comedy Chuckle at Mitchell’s, the official afterparty, the specials at many restaurants, and the weather, to name a few.
The official statistics of this year’s festival will be available at the end of August or first week of September, confirmed festival manager Glendyrr Fick.