Media Release. 18 August 2010. Mossel Bay Tourism

IMAGE: First meeting of the 2011 Dias Festival’s Joint Organising Committee: (Back from left) Mossel Bay’s Port Manager Willem Roux; Friends of the Dias Museum chairman, Pierre le Roux; Mossel Bay Protea Hotel manager Karen Bus; the Dias Museum’s Brigitte von Schütz; Mossel Bay Tourism’s Louma Jansen; and PetroSA communications officer Nafeesah Abrahams. (Front) Harold Miller, chairman, Dias Museum Complex Management Committee; museum manager Mbulelo Mrubata, and Mossel Bay Tourism COO Marcia Holm.

2011 Dias Festival: Event Organisers Invited To Join In

Next year’s Dias Festival will run from the 3rd to the 6th of February – and event managers wanting to organise sporting, cultural or entertainment events have been invited register for the programme.

“The Dias Museum and Mossel Bay Tourism will be coordinating the 2011 Dias Festival, but we won’t be organising individual events,” said the Dias Museum Complex’s manager, Mbulelo Mrubata.

“We’re hoping that the sports clubs and cultural organisations, and also professional event managers and individual businesses like restaurants and hotels will come forward with their own ideas, and link their events to the Festival.

“The South African Navy has already indicated that it will be sending vessels and its band to Mossel Bay, and their entry to the harbour on the 3rd of February – the same day on which Dias landed here in 1488 – will mark the opening of this year’s Festival,” he said.

Mossel Bay Tourism’s Marcia Holm said that she hoped that Festival events would take place at various venues throughout the greater Mossel Bay area.

“We’re hoping that there’ll be theatre and concerts – and particularly jazz concerts – as well as dancing and art exhibitions; and sports events like soccer tournaments, road running, trail running, cricket, and perhaps touch rugby and beach volleyball.

“We’ll be inviting the Portuguese and Malaysian embassies to send delegations, and local restaurants will be encouraged to put on special Malay and Portuguese menus, while the hotels have been asked to present things like food festivals, wine tastings, and wine parings,” she said.

“It’s very important that the Dias Festival reaches every part of the community, and so, while the Museum will be the official centre of the Festival, we’re definitely encouraging schools and clubs to put on their own events in their own premises – but what we do expect them to take part in the meetings of the Joint Organising Committee, because that’s where we’ll be discussing things like dates and times, and the important questions of community safety and security.”

Mr. Mrubata said that the Friends of the Museum were planning to present an evening of operatic arias, and that the Museum grounds would host the Onafhanklikke Entrepreneurs (Independent Entrepreneurs) group’s craft and food stalls.

“We’re also open to other ideas for the amphitheatre, the Maritime Museum, and the education centre at the Granary,” he said.

The next meeting of the Festival’s Joint Organising Committee (JOC) will take place at the Dias Museum on Tuesday, August 31 at 10h00.

Event organisers and club representatives are invited to register for the Festival with Louma Jansen at Mossel Bay Tourism – telephone 044 691 2202 or e-mail info@visitmosselbay.co.za

ENDS 524 WORDS