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Garden Route Festivals
We have a surprising number of diverse and fun Garden Route Festivals on the go through-out the year so visitors in both winter and summer months have opportunity to attend at least one if not more festival depending on the length of their stay in the area.
All these festivals give people an occasion to explore their particular genre of entertainment and a reason to enjoy a day out doing something different.
- The Slow Festival - 27 -29 March 2020 - Sedgefield Good family fun the whole weekend long.
- Garden Route Walking Festival - 10-13 Apr 2020, Easter weekend - all areas of Garden Route - a few talks and all kinds of walks from easy to strenuous.
- Knysna Arts Festival - February - Knysna. This includes visual arts, performing arts, an art route through the town to some wonderful galleries, art demos and on the fringes, a good number of interesting talks.
- Knysna Celtic Festival 15-16 February 2019 - Knysna. A musical extravaganza featuring top bagpipe bands, Celtic singers, musicians, and Highland & Irish dancers from all over South Africa as well as Highland Games, Archery and Tug-of-War tournaments.
- Knysna Literary Festival 6 -8 March 2020 - Knysna. Now into its' 11th year! An amazing array of events allow locals a chance to meet and listen to discussions with authors and the books they have written and to get their book purchases personally signed!
- The Pink Lourie Mardi Gras & Arts Festival - 30 May to 2 Jun 2019 - Knysna. A spectacle of pageantry, theatre, creativity, music, design, multi-media, and other forms of artistic expression for the LGBTQ community and everyone to enjoy.
- Knysna Oyster Festival 21-30 June 2019 - Knysna. A premium sport and lifestyle festival offering a programme of unique events for sport lovers, families and adventurers, with more than 100 activities spread over ten days.
- Plett Food and Film - July - Plettenberg Bay. Top-notch food and entertainment. The festival focuses on showcasing wonderful cuisine and the excellent quality of film productions coming out of South Africa and some old favourites that people never get tired of seeing again.
- Knysna Film Festival - 29 Oct - 2 Nov 2019 sees the inauguration of this festival with action aplenty that promises to be a highlight of the town's calendar. Knysna Waterfront has 5 film venues and an open air cinema around the basin. Thesen Harbour Town has 5 indoor venues and there’s also one at Khayalethu Community Hall. Nurturing a local emerging film market and to promote this beautiful region to international and professional film makers, a competition has been launched to engage all players and the public in this venture. The result is 3 days packed with a wide variety of fabulous films both full length and shorter, 42 in all, for the public to enjoy. There will also be events for industry interactions.
- Eden Kite Festival - 14 Dec 2019 - George Sasol -near Kaaimans 15-16 Dec 2019 Knysna High School fields. Additionally, an outdoor evening "Tribute to ABBA" at the Scarab Outdoor Market, next to the Engen Garage, Sedgefield. A day of family fun flying kites, some truly spectacular ones and a chance to enter some kite flying competitions and battles, geared for all ages. Also enjoyable for spectators!
- Knysna Timber Festival - October. Celebrating our indigenous forests and Knysna's Timber Heritage at Timber Village with some fine exhibitions and excellent talks.
- Leisure Isle Festival - 9 -10 November 2019 - Knysna. An outdoor Spring Flea Market for the whole family to enjoy. It's a great source for unique and original Christmas and birthday presents.
Knysna Splash Festival - December - hosted by Knysna Rotary Club is held annually. For 2019 it will take place on Saturday 28th just before new year. There is the Lagoon Mile for adults and a Junior Swim for 10 year old's and younger.
Then there's a fun event called the Quack Attack Duck Race. All the details for the day can be found on the linked Facebook page.
Support Garden Route Festivals
Festival organisers are to be commended for the great deal of hard work they put into creating these events which in all instances raises funds for local charities thereby benefiting their communities which is surely good reason to support them.
These Garden Route Festivals are within reach of all the towns along the Garden Route and, dare I say, most convenient for Sedgefield residents or visitors who are probably half-way between them all. So, no matter where they are, a great outing is no more than an hour or two away at the most.
