PAUL ROUX VILLAGE FESTIVAL 2014 A GREAT SUCCESS

The Paul Roux Village Festival which took place on 5 April 2014 turned out to be a real country village experience. It took place in the park in front of the Rosenhof Hotel and the Pink Tricycle Restaurant, and the event was blessed with fantastic weather.  Marques, gazebos, veteran and classic cars, boere sports, live music, good food, fine art, strong coffee, interesting stalls, cold beer and chilled wine were the order of the day and a wonderful festive spirit ruled.

The stalls were of a particularly high standard where local folk reminded visitors about what good old fashioned baking was all about.

 Some of the talented ladies selling their wonderful home made food and confectionaries.

Then the competitions started - sack races, egg and spoon, egg throwing.......
and of course passionate cheering for the 4 adult teams formally fielded for the 'tug-of-war' - the Paul Roux Forum, the NG Kerk, the AP Kerk and the Maluti Antique and Auto Machine Club - it was eventually won by the Forum but they were heavy battles indeed.











And it made for interesting entertainment.

Generally the weather could not have been better. Many people arrived and enjoyed the event for hours, spending time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. The idea was that every effort would be made to ensure that the festival keep a real village feel and that the activities would be kept together in the park so that the energy stayed alive; and it did. A good sign was that the music had to keep going a full two hours after the official end of the fair.

 Apart from jolly socializing, eating, drinking and art and stall browsing, the boere sports made for a lot of laughing, joking and teasing. There was also a singing competition which was eventually won by Andrew Smith who promptly donated his R1000 cash prize to the Bethlehem SPCA.

The weekend had started off on the Friday night with an art preview cocktail party, and the eats and sparkling wine was accompanied by visiting singers Andrew Smith and David Daniel, and followed by a preview of the art exhibition which had exceptionally high quality works by 8 artists some as far afield as Cape Town and Rustenburg and which included local Paul Roux artists Rosemarie Schutze, Nana Brits and Edward van den Berg. I was bowled over by the generosity of my friends from Jhb who have no stake in the Village other than being friends and who both contributed such wonderful food (Dean Kelly) and sparkling wine (Rodney Hill) for the cocktail party.  After the festival on Saturday, visitors had a choice between a smart dinner hosted by the NGK or a party at Dino’s Antiques and Restaurant. On Sunday, people gathered to celebrate the centenary service of the Paul Roux NGK, to enjoy the service, the classical music and the tea and cake which brought the weekend to a wonderful conclusion. God had looked down fondly on the village and the village had a very proud smile on its face.

Here are some more photos - all photos were taken by 'Paul Rouxster' artist and photographer Hanli de Lange

All thanks to Festival Committee:

Richard Lewis - Committee Chairman and Paul Roux Forum

Ds Hennie Smit - NGK

Emmarencia van Aardt - NGK

Illona Botha - NGK and Municipality

Jess de Klerk - APK

Hennie Olivier - APK

Hendrik Smit - APK

Jasper van Schalkwyk - Horse Outride

Carolise Appels - Pink Tricycle 

Edward van den Berg - Paul Roux Forum

Rosemarie Schutze - Paul Roux Forum

Tertius Du Preez - Maluti Antique Auto and Machine Club

Special Thanks to:

• Emmarencia and Louwrens Gouws and family - Dinos - stage, boere sports and sheer hard work
• Hanli de Lange ( Simi-G photography)
• Ruben Evans and Daniel Lerata - Paul Roux Municipal Office
• Pens and Petro Maritz - Forum and owners Ster Café - superb party eats
• Dean Kelly - owner Mugg and Bean - Woodmead - superb party eats
• Rodney Hill - Independent Wine Merchant - free sparkling wine for the party
• Roy Law - Paul Roux Forum - art tent lights
• Sean Jones - Paul Roux Forum - construction of art exhibition frames
• Joggie Naude - Paul Rouxster - awesome MC and DJ and live entertainment
• Andrew Smith - great singer from Durban for entertaining
• David Daniel - superb tenor also from Durban for entertaining
• Cedric von Steiger - the use of the Rosenhof Hotel
• Theuns van Rooyen - use of Pink Tricycle
• Jaap Zietsmann - for so kindly cutting the lawn of the Sports Centre
• Suzanne Naude - for the traffic and car officials - enthusiastic school kids.

And of course to all the people who participated in some way and of course the Proud Paul Rouxsters who attended the festival and made it so awesome.

Finally to God for no problems, no injuries and possibly the most perfect weather anyone could have asked for!