Thousands support spring fest

Busi Vilakazi

Kensington’s well-known tradition, the Kensington Spring Fair, now called the Kensington Spring Fest returned this year with great support from the community.

The event is held the first weekend of September and returned to Rhodes Park with a bigger and better event as community members set out to claim back the public park.

The spring fair was first held in 1990 and this year residents welcomed the return of the event for the 26th year.

Last year the event was cancelled after the then committee, the I Love Kensington Association, evaluated the 2014 and 2015 events and decided they were not catering for Kensington residents anymore.

However, the 2017 spring fest committee worked hard this year to restore the event to its former glory and also as a move by the Kensington Resident and Ratepayer Association (KRRA), formerly known as the I Love Kensington Association, to claim back Rhodes Park.

The 26th spring fest attracted thousands of people from Kensington and surrounding areas.

This year the event was a two-day affair starting on September 2 with a movie night in the park where Mama Mia was screened.

“We are very happy that the community supported the movie night. We came together for a night event in the park and hope that this is the start of many more events like this in the future. As we said before – Rhodes Park is our park and we are taking it back,” said head of the spring fest committee, Kgomotso Modise.

She said they were happy with the turnout of more than 200 community members who attended Saturday night’s event.

Sunday was an even greater success with thousands attending the festival.

This year’s festivities boasted a total of 70 stalls and numerous fun activities and entertainment for the entire family to enjoy.

“We would like to thank all the stall holders and entertainers. Without them, there wouldn’t be much of an event. As the committee, we were very happy with the turn-out given that there was no event last year,” Kgomotso said.

“We felt it was intimate and a community-building event. People had an awesome time. We will put more effort into making it bigger every year. We believe that we can restore the event to its former glory of 10 000 people coming through the gates of Rhodes Park and having more stalls to be spoiled for choice.”

Safety was one of the main priorities as the police, metro police and security companies were visible throughout the day.

“We would like to thank everyone who assisted with security. The companies that sponsored gates and provided safety were NoCrime, 7Arrows and Chubb,” said Kgomotso.

She said organisers were overwhelmed as KRRA members, residents and businesses in the area came together to ensure the event’s success.

“We would like to thank our community members who volunteered their time at either the gates or the KRRA gazebo, Strathyre Girls for manning the Coca-Cola stand and the Rand Prep and College for their volunteers who assisted in making the children’s events a huge success.

“A big thank you also goes out to all the Kensington businesses that donated prizes and vouchers. They are all great partners to have in our community,” said Kgomotso.

The entertainment list included the Jeppe Pipe Band, Fighting Fit Africa, Paula Lopes Dance Studio and Jeppe Marimba band.

The spring fest was started about 30 years ago by a well-known Kensingtonian, Gerald Heine.

It was then called the Village Market.

Over the years the spring fair developed into an event that attracted approximately 10 000 people. This year the spring fest supported four charities; Dewetshof Retirement Village, Kensington Lions, Strathyre Girls Home and Aim Centre.

“I would like to thank the spring fest committee, as well as the KRRA executive committee for giving of themselves so tirelessly. A lot of work is required to organise such an event and we couldn’t have done this without them,” said Kgomotso.

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