What to expect at the Kampala City festival
The Kampala City Festival is a signature brand that draws in multitudes in Kampala every first Sunday of October to celebrate culture, unity and provides immense networking opportunities for business owners. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA
What you need to know:
October 4, will see a section of Kampala city roads closed to traffic for the fourth annual Kampala City Festival 2015. Last year, the festival attracted more than a million people and that number could go up this year.
The countdown to the 2015 Kampala City Festival has begun and the organisers are pledging a grand feast.
Unlike the past festivals, Sunday’s fete has been spiced up with competitions, raffle draws and as such, more streets have been earmarked.
The new routes include Buganda Road, Kampala Road, Parliamentary Avenue; Jinja Road, Kintu Road and Nile Avenue.
To ably cater for these changes, KCCA has also gazetted different areas to address the needs of various communities. These include the Legend Zone on Jinja Road, Muslim Zone at Independence Grounds, Children Zone at City Hall, Festival Zoo on Yusuf Lule Road, and the Christian Zone at the Sheraton Gardens.
Organised under theme ‘Colour and Climate Change,’ the fourth edition of the festival will aim at bringing Ugandans and other nationals to celebrate their heritage, colour and climate.
Peter Kaujju, the KCCA spokesperson, said the theme was informed by the fact that climate change is taking its toll on the world, and thus the need to create awareness about the matter.
He said, “Under the colour concept, we are celebrating heritage diversity, colourful environment, colourful food, lifestyle and fabrics.”
He noted that this time round, a climate change pavilion will be put in place and school competitions to showcase the best environment-saving creations with the best school getting a trophy.
“For climate change, we target the public to be part in taking on climate change actions, echo fashions (reusing wastes to craft beautiful artifacts) and eco art (using fine art to create climate awareness),” Kaujju explained.
Various roads in the city will be closed to allow revellers enjoy the day’s festivities. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA
Fanfare
But that is not all, as Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director points out. Jennifer Musisi, the KCCA executive director, said in addition to the gift hampers courtesy of partner companies, KCCA will also reward companies with great display.
At the last preparation meeting, Musisi said, “The pace has been set. The day is near. Kampalans should expect the best for this year’s festival.”
She said the city festival is rated the biggest in East and Central Africa, yet it started in only 2012.
Musisi reported that revellers’ numbers have kept growing, with a large turnout of two million, which was registered last year.
“We have the best in store for our people we serve in Kampala. Our target is to set a notch way beyond our neighbours in East Africa,” she said.
While Kampala is home to 4.5m people, the organisers are targeting at least 2.5m merrymakers.
Kaujju said the event is expected to cost Shs875m, with Ruparelia Group of Companies and Crane Bank Ltd, Uganda Breweries Limited, MTN Uganda and Coca Cola as platinum sponsors.
About the festival
The annual event, which draws thousands of city dwellers, was started in 2012 with the aim of bringing residents of Kampala, neighbouring countries and districts together as a way of celebrating the city.
