Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival programme expands

Says festival manager Nicci Rousseau: “The Oyster Festival was historically focused around the two weekends which featured the two major sporting events, the Pick n Pay Weekend Argus Rotary Knysna Cycle Tour and the Pick n Pay Cape Times Knysna Forest Marathon. However, the aim has always been to give the festival a full programme of mid-week events and I'm pleased to say that this year we have really achieved this goal with nearly 100 mid-week events including four exciting new ones.”

The new events are the Geo Oyster Geocaching Competition, the Pick n Pay Fun Event for the Disabled, the Navigation Drift Dive Challenge and the Night of 1000 Pictures.

The Geo Oyster Geocaching Competition is a daily event which offers a fun way to navigate around the greater Knysna Basin. The event will take competitors to a combination of nature, sports and festival destinations to find clues that will unlock the finish location.

The Pick n Pay Fun Event for the Disabled, the first ever Oyster Festival sports event for disabled competitors, will see wheelchair athletes and able bodied assistants race in events of between 3km and 5km.

In the Navigation Drift Dive Challenge teams of scuba divers will attempt to navigate their way under water from The Heads to Thesen's Jetty without surfacing.

The Night of 1000 Pictures is a two-night exhibition of photography, illustrations and paintings to raise funds for Knysna Hospice. Local artists have been asked to donate art works which will be sold to the public at R100 each.

There will also be a full programme of mid-week events at the Knysna Secondary School which is hosting a programme of feast and celebration with the Proudly Knysna Secondary School Campaign. The Oyster Carnival at the Knysna High School Fields is a perennial favourite with its fun fair and dog agility competition, while this year's Pick n Pay Young Oyster Festival programme at Loerie Park will keep kids occupied in a safe and healthy environment for hours.

Other mid-week festival favourites include the Wade Bales Wine Festival, the Pick n Pay Oyster & Wine Mardi Gras presented by Tabasco, The Knysna Oyster Company Shucking Competition in partnership with Tabasco, the Longbarn Oyster Eating Competition and the Admiral's Masquerade Ball.

Mid-week sporting events include the Scottish Leader Whisky Bowls Tournament, the Salomon Featherbed Trail Run, Duesouth XTERRA, the SANParks Oyster Festival Golf Day, the Golf Digest Bell's Knysna Classic and the Protea Hotel Knysna Quays Waitron Race.

The SA Navy also makes its grand entry through The Heads midweek in a spectacle worth watching.

And if you're just coming for the oysters, you'll find 30 local Tabasco Hotspots where oysters will be served naked, cooked or garnished at very pleasing prices throughout the 10 days of the festival!

Says Rousseau: “We'd like to encourage festinos to extend their stay in Knysna to enjoy the full 10 days of the programme which is guaranteed to have something that will appeal to everyone. Make this the best 10 days of your winter!”

For more information and the full programme go to www.oysterfestival.co.za