SHILLONG, OCT 20: The ‘Shillong Autumn Festival’- one of the famous festivals in the state will return this year after a gap of five years bringing popular local artists and international DJ to the event which will be held at the banks of the picturesque Umiam Lake next weekend.
The festival also known as a cultural bash of the city was first organized by the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF) in 2006 and continued till 2012 as part of promoting the tourism industry in the state by attracting tourists from across the country and abroad.
Deciding to revive and also make this festival into an annual event, Opus Production – a four-member group of young Shillongites approached and got the No-objection certificate (NOC) from the MTDF to use the brand name of the festival.
Addressing a press conference held here on Saturday, the group member Andreas N War told reporters that the two-day Shillong Autumn Festival will be held at the Orchid Lake Resort, Umiam from October 26 to 27.
“We are a private firm and we have decided to not only revive this festival but also make it an annual event for the people. We thanked the MTDF team for giving us the NOC and we will try to keep up with the standards set by them,” he said.
Though there has been no financial support from the state government, Andreas however said that they have been receiving help from potential sponsors and they are looking for a bigger tied up in the years to come.
Stating like other North East states, Meghalaya too has its own festival like the Shillong Autumn Festival, which is well known in the country, another member Alethea Kynta said that for a start, they have decided to make the festival more of a family-oriented and music event.
She informed that there will be various activities for entertaining children during the two-day festival which include play area, paint-ball zone, water sports, kids-friendly food and others.
“The kids will also be entertained by Shillong very own magician (John Lanong),” she added.
Andreas on the other hand highlighted that ‘Avora Records’ – a Mizoram-based band who were the last year’s winner of the Hornbill International Rock Contest, and Albin Myers – an international DJ, will be performing during the two-day festival.
Apart from this, the festival will featured popular local bands and artists from across the state which includes Colours, Roots Reggae Band, Black Jack, Emperical Tribe, Wavelength besides DJs Dee & Shan, DJ Elton and others.
Cultural shows, handicraft stalls, tattoo artist, Gen-X stage are some of the special attractions of the festival. Meanwhile, the much-needed publicity has been given to the autumn festival outside the state in an effort to attract more tourists coming to the state.
By Our Reporter
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