The Knysna Oyster Festival is 25 years old this year!

From Arts & Crafts to Sports, Boat Shows, Exhibitions, Fun Fairs, Food and Wine and other entertainment covered many areas from the Old Goal Maritime Museum to the Belvidere Manor House, Waterfront Knysna Quays, Thesen’s Jetty, Lorie Park, the Heads and other locations along the picturesque beauty scenery of Knysna.

As in previous editions, the event played a very important role for the community by raising Founds for Charity. Last year the largest contributions came from the Pick ‘n Pay Weekend Argus Rotary Knysna Cycle Tour and the Pick ‘n Pay Cape time Forest Marathon.

This year’s surprises included a Charity Gala Evening at Zachary’s Restaurant at the ARTEH® Hotel in Knysna, Pezula Resort Hotel and Spa, as well as the Wade Bales Wine Festival, presented by Best Life at Pezula’s Golf Club and Duesouth XTERRA at Pezula’s Field of Dreams.

By all accounts last year’s Pick ‘n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival appears to have been the best ever, in terms of both the numbers attending the festival and the size of the program. According to co-ordinator Nicci Rousseau, some 58,000 people visited Knysna over the 10 days of the event.

Says Rousseau: "The increase in numbers was due to the introduction of 18 new events to the programme as well as an increase in the number of participants in the sports events."

Figures show that this was probably the busiest the town has ever been during the midweek period of the festival "The weekends are traditionally very busy with the two big races – the Pick ‘n Pay Weekend Argus Rotary Knysna Cycle Tour and the Pick ‘n Pay Cape Times Forest Marathon," says Rousseau. "The challenge has always been to attract visitors during the week, and this year it seems to have worked."
The introduction of the Tabasco Oyster Hot Spots was also a huge success, and had an excellent response from visitors.

Said Rousseau: "We were able to make fresh and cooked oysters available to our visitors at excellent prices, and the response was fantastic, with participating restaurants reporting a 20-40% increase in turnover this festival. In all there were approximately 190,000 oysters consumed over the 10 days - during events, at registration of events and in restaurants.

"It was a fantastic festival with everybody working towards its success. The festival management team, event managers, the community and the Municipality all pulled together and the result was a great festive spirit in Knysna that everybody picked up on."

CEO of Knysna Tourism, Craig Nancarrow, said that the vibe and community spirit displayed at this year’s festival was exhilarating and contributed significantly to the success of the event, which is estimated to have injected some R50 million into the local economy.

"All Knysnarians took ownership of the festival this year and were proud to provide information to visitors and participate in and enjoy the Festival. Knysna experienced a fun 10 days of continuous activity complimented by perfect weather making this year’s festival the best ever," said Nancarrow.
Knysna’s Executive Mayor, Dr Joy Cole said that she believes this Oyster Festival has “surpassed everything we have done and experienced in Knysna before.

"To me the most encouraging aspect was that the locals came out en masse to support the festival and have fun! My thanks and appreciation to all festival organizers for a job well done and also to the people of Knysna who have shown their support. We will have work hard next year to outsmart our achievements of the 23rd Knysna Oyster Festival!"

Source: Oyster Festival Official Website