I was given to understand that it was obligatory for Obs residents to pay R30 per person to have weekend access to the area whether they were interested in the festival or not. It disgusted me but I coughed up R90 anyway (there are three of us in the household) as I realized it was too late to complain about this decision and request something more realistic. I was then issued with pathethic paper armbands with halloween logos that we had to cut off when we needed to shower and then laboriously reattach with sticky tape each time we wanted to enter our own shopping district. I disagree with the notion that the festival was a success. It was cobbled together last minute and a bunch of generously minded musicians agreed to perform. The stalls were horribly boring, selling rubbishy tourist tat and the only food to be had was borewors. And we call this a Festival of Arts!!!!! My heart went out to those clubs and pubs who had paid musicians to play and had to charge an entry fee to cover costs. The attendance at these places was poor because people resented having to pay yet another entrance fee. What a fiasco. I suggest that next year you call it what it is "The Obz Beer Fest" or the "Obz (now carefully monitored) Bender", or, more playfully, "The Obz Jol" but please, not the Observatory Festival of Arts. If you wish to understand why, please attend Grahamstown Arts Festival, or Outshoorn Festival.
Further, as a concerned and interested resident, I would like to see, publically posted, clear accounting for the event. What money came in, what was paid out and to whom, and who benefited financially from the event. I think as a resident I have a right to this knowledge as it will affect my support of any kind of this event in the future. Julia Teale ----- Original Message ----- From: Ancois Bester To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 4:56 PM Subject: Re: [obsnw] Shopping at Spar etc during the Obs fest Hi Jo, The festival got permission from the Business owners to close off the area. Gate staff did however use their discretion where residents were concerned and the policy was to let folks pass to be able to do their shopping at Spar or visit the video store. Best, Ancois On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 3:03 PM, Jo-Anne Stolk <[email protected]> wrote: Hi all On Saturday my husband and I thought we'd pop into Spar but were foiled when we saw that the whole precinct was gated off (the gate to the parking lot was locked as well). I didn't see anything about access to shops for residents and we sure weren't going to pay the entrance fee just to buy a bottle of cooldrink at Spar. Were the shop owners aware that non festival-goers wouldn't be able to shop there? Was any provision made for residents needing to access these shops? Jo -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en.
