(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Raynald C Rivera | The Peninsula
DOHA: The upcoming Katara Traditional Dhow Festival 2018 packs spectacular shows, exciting competitions and surprises and has witnessed increase in participation, organizers have said.
To run from November 20 to 24 at Katara beach, this year's festival will see participants from Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, India, Greece, Italy, and Zanzibar, some of which will bring bigger delegations compared to the event's previous editions, added organizers.
Speaking ahead of the festival opening, Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara said that the eighth edition of the Festival stands apart in terms of the number of participants, diversity of the competitions and related activities, the space allocated for the Festival and the expected number of visitors.
Over the past seven years the festival has gained great significance by bringing together participants from a number of friendly countries and introducing a number of marine contests in a traditional festive mood, said Al Sulaiti.
Talking to reporters yesterday at Katara beach, Ahmed Al Hitmi, Director of the Beach Department at Katara and Head of the Festival, said the spotlight will be on the shows, competitions and cultural events.
'We are focusing on the shows like fireworks display which will combine music and visual display and tell the history of Qatar from the ancient pearl diving days to the present. The fireworks display will be for two days Thursday and Friday beginning at 8pm and lasting for 20 minutes, explained Al Hitmi.
He added that following Friday's fireworks display will be a surprise announcement which is related to Qatar 2022.
Around 50 traditional dhows have been selected to take part in this year's festival. They include dhows from private owners, Qatar Museums and Private Engineering Office and a number of dhows from other participating countries, said Al Hitmi. The dhows, which come in different sizes, were chosen to represent the 14 traditional types of dhows such as sanbuk, jalbot and baghara, among others, he added.
He said that registration for the contests and the traditional shows are open. The organizing committee has expanded the scope of the activities to make them suitable for different categories and age groups. There will be eight contests carrying traditional names such as Shoush, Tafreesh, Bareekha, Hadaq, Sabaha, Mijdaf, among others, in addition to folkloric shows.
The Katara beach will have a number of food outlets for visitors. A market dedicated for tools, equipment and material used in making of traditional dhows, fishing and pearl diving, with participation will be another attraction at the Festival. A cultural coffee shop with interactive discussions on sea traditions involving experts will add more colour to the Festival.
The organizers expect visitors in excess of 100,000 last year, with the weather becoming better, said Al Hitmi.
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