Locals’ taste buds get lost at Leisure
This year’s Leisure Isle Festival was once again a fun occasion for people and animals alike, with all kinds of stalls welcoming hundreds of festivalgoers during the weekend of 9 and 10 November.
The event again comprised local artisans of every kind providing something to satisfy everyone’s taste buds at the food stalls in beautiful, albeit windy, weather that the festival was blessed with over the weekend.
The 13-year-old fest is a community event organised by a group of friends to provide local crafters and businesses a unique opportunity to showcase and sell their products, promote community spirit, and provide a venue for approved charities to raise funds.
According to the festival convener Niall Johnston, this year’s instalment was one that excited all parties concerned despite a slightly lower attendance rate compared to previous years. “It has been a very exciting festival for us, we had a few new stallholders who all gave ecstatic responses,” he said. One stallholder was evidently so eager to participate that he had arrived a week early after getting the dates wrong, Johnston chuckled.
“The stands for the festival sold out within a month after we opened sales,” he said.
The festival’s organisers had also arranged more seating options for festivalgoers this year, which had allowed for people to make the event more of a social occasion, in Johnston’s opinion.
The Leisure Isle Festival is also a very big contributor to charities in Knysna, and this year was no different with Johnston pointing out that the charities that had stalls at the festival experienced great success with their products.
Unfortunately, this sweet festival wasn’t without its sour, as on Sunday night a part of the KnysnaSedgefield Hospice rental tent was stolen.
“They had left the tent up overnight to be collected in the morning,” Johnston said, “but when they arrived on Monday morning, one side of the tent had been unclipped and stolen.” This means Hospice will have to pay for these damages out the proceeds they made during the festival.