The Sedgefield Slow Festival, held over the Easter Weekend, has become an annual celebration of a slow lifestyle and good old fashioned fun. It brings friends and families together outdoors and encourages participation in a wide range of activities.
What started as a small discussion about how to draw a bigger tourism market to the small coastal town of Sedgefield has, just five years later, developed into a huge festival drawing thousands of visitors each year and awarding them a unique lifestyle status – ‘Cittaslow’ a first for the continent.
This is a worldwide membership organisation promoting quality of life and resisting the fast-lane lifestyle. It is reminiscent of times when technology did not invade every moment and action of our lives. A time when kids rode bikes for hours while adults took the time to converse over long meals.
Cittaslow, literally meaning ‘slow city’ was initiated in Italy in 1999 and to date represents nearly 100 towns across the world. A town that is awarded this status must abide by the Cittaslow values aimed at improving quality of life, embracing diversity of cultures and promoting the unique aspects of their own people and environments.
This year the festival will be the biggest one yet. The list of events keeps getting longer, and there is not a single family member who hasn’t been catered for.
The events include:
- a paragliding challenge
- Beer Pong Championship
- Goukamma Traverse Trail Run
- Slow Art in the Park
- Family Theatre Show
- Slow Festival Yard Sale
- Anything that Floats
- Easter Bunny Beach Fling
- Sand Sculpting Challenge
- NSRI Beach Volleyball
- Smutsville Extreme Funky Hair Challenge
- Slow Fest Beauty Pageants
- Amazing Creatures and Band Parade
- Slow Town Drive In
- Castle Light Street Bash
- Chumani Township Tours
- Out of the Bin Fashion Show
- Slow Biking Challenge
- Picnic Concert In The Park
- Timberlake Chocolate Workshop
Proceeds of these events go towards a range of charities, community upliftment and social development.
If you feel your family needs an Easter weekend to re-connect, slow down and appreciate wholesome entertainment, then this is the perfect place to be. And a perfect place to stay is The Turbine Hotel and Spa in Knysna, just a short drive away.
For more information contact www.slowfestival.co.za
