HAENERTSBURG – Dynamite comes in small packages.
This is most certainly true about Mara Hermann who lives in Haenertsburg and is the owner and publisher of the quarterly Mountain Getaway. This dynamic little person single-handedly organised the past weekend’s successful two-day Food, Wine and Beer Festival in the village.
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Mara is not just an organiser par excellence but also gets physically stuck in to help. Saturday morning, before the rush began, saw Mara lugging red plastic chairs off vehicles and into position behind tables. She also saw to the legal requirements needed for the festival because of the presence of alcohol.
All 2 000 branded wine glasses were sold. Mara dispatched a helper to buy more from a big retailer, unfortunately not branded.
Some of the food stalls were out of stock by mid-afternoon. Sushi was gone in a flash and the Vervet Monkey Foundation sold 100 falafels at their vegan stand.
The Iron Crown ran out of 50m litres of tomato juice for their Bloody Marys last year. This time they ordered 200 litres from tomato giant ZZ2 in Mooketsi. Oysters were served with either a Bloody Mary with vodka as a base or a Crafty Mary with gin as a base.
There were many gin stalls, several wine estates, liqueurs and Zwakala craft beers. One section was devoted to African crafts in the form of beaded jewellery and beaded sandals and there were several clothing stalls as well.
Art in the Park showcased its talent in the open park opposite the police station. Several artworks were sold. The park converted into a showcase for vintage cars on the Sunday. Children were supervised and entertained with art and jungle gyms while their parents ate, drank, spent their hard earned cash and listened to live music.
