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While the days of having fun without televisions and computers or children playing outside and riding their bikes all day, are long gone - residents of Sedgefield on the Garden Route try and bring back those simpler times for a few days every Easter with the annual Slow Festival.
"Five years old and only one of a kind in Africa, it's a festival celebrating the real things in life; wholesome goodness, cultural heritage, community, family and friends, fun, sport, the outdoors and great food. The Slow Festival has become a premium annual South African family festival that offers a myriad of fabulous family fun and a well-balanced series of events to bring locals, visitors and tourists together to celebrate Easter every year," one of the organisers Amanda Dixon said.
Every year up to 2 000 people descend on the tranquil town for the festival and this year organisers expect even more visitors wanting to take it slow.
Festinos can enjoy a full programme including the popular the Slow Festival drive-in, the Goukamma Traverse Trail Run - rated best festival trail run by Runners World magazine in February this year - and a sand sculpting challenge. The Anything that Floats event - which challenges participants to build a craft and test it out on the water - is also set to provide a few laughs over the weekend.
The sport programme will include activities such as the Slow Biking competition, Barefoot Bowls and a beer pong championship. There will also a beer and food garden as well as arts and crafts, beauty pageants and fashion shows during the festival which kicks off on Friday April 18 and ends on Sunday April 20.
"The festival places the spotlight on our beautiful seaside village. An influx of holidaymakers brings business to our town and puts heads on pillows at our accommodation establishments," Dixon said.
The festival has been given a dash of orange over the past five years to let people know that it is coming. "The colour of the festival is orange. The whole town comes alive in the lead-up to the festival. All the shop fronts and businesses - and slowly residents' homes too - are decked out and decorated in orange."
The full programme can be found on the festival's website www.slowfestival.co.za
