Knysna Oyster Festival team gears up for 2009 event
19. Feb, 2009
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The Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival team is ready to begin promoting the 2009 festival. So says Nicci Rousseau, festival manager, who has been working since September last year to finalise the events programme. Says Rousseau: “We’re not there yet, but it’s all taking shape and we will have the first meeting of our Joint Operations Committee today. This is the body which works with us to ensure that all the logistics are in place for a successful, safe festival. It includes all the managers of the various events and the different municipal departments which handle traffic, water supply, refuse, security and disaster management.”
The team works together with naming sponsor Pick n Pay’s sponsorship agency, WORLDSPORT to ensure the festival’s success.
“Our aim this year is to promote the festival as ‘The Best 10 days of Your Winter’, and to push the midweek events. Historically the two weekends of the festival have always been busy, so our goal is to encourage our visitors to extend their stay in Knysna through the week,” said Rousseau.
This is the third consecutive year that the festival will be coordinated by Rousseau who heads up Knysna PR, and her assistant Di Steenkamp. Glendyrr Fick, Knysna Tourism’s development officer, will be responsible for coordinating and promoting community events. Fick introduced the Local Loerie programme three years ago and has had extensive experience with community participation in the annual Oyster Festival.
The function of PR and media liaison has again been outsourced to Jeannine Orzechowski, who previously co-ordinated four festivals (2002-2005) and ran the PR campaign for the 2006 and 2008 festivals.
According to Rousseau, the festival has grown considerably in the last few years, specifically since 2004 when Pick n Pay signed a five-year partnership agreement with Knysna Tourism, which is the custodian of the festival. This agreement has been renewed for a further five years until 2013.
At the time when he announced the sponsorship, Jonathan Ackerman, marketing director of Pick n Pay Retail, said that Pick n Pay would assist to add value and grow the festival and, in doing so, “make a worthwhile contribution to local economic development, because Pick n Pay is committed to supporting events which benefit the local community and local charities.
“The festival is well established and has a good infrastructure and from Pick n Pay’s point of view it offers excellent branding opportunities in South Africa’s Favourite Town,” said Ackerman. “It revolves mainly around sport and leisure activities and is an ideal platform to promote the brand of Pick n Pay which is associated with healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.”
Today the festival programme has over 100 events and attracts more than 13,000 cyclists and runners who participate in the two main sporting events, the Pick n Pay Weekend Argus Rotary Knysna Cycle Tour and the Pick n Pay Cape Times Knysna Marathon and Half Marathon. Last year the festival raised a record R1, 165m for local charities.
For more information about the festival visit www.oysterfestival.co.za
Related Stories
- Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival 2009 launches
- Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival – community participation initiatives
- Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival raises more than R1m for local charities
- Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival introduces mid-week events
- Oyster Festival organisers happy with turnout
My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
Hi: is it not possible to combine the festival with crayfish AND oysters?
Ihave read this entire article but cannot find where and when the festival starts! There are no dates!
Indeed it’s not indicated, however it’s 3-12 July, their website http://www.oysterfestival.co.za provides the dates