Plett is all Rage right now
A few minor hiccups at the start of this year’s annual Plett Rage have not put a damper on the festive spirits of the thousands of youngsters who have been flocking to Plettenberg Bay over the past week.
School leavers have not only been soaking up the sun during the first few days of the festival, but have also enjoyed some of South Africa’s top musicians and other entertainment on offer.
“The festival grounds has definitely been an awesome addition. It is absolutely fantastic,” said Theo Potgieter, referring to the new Rage venue, The Meadows, just outside of Plett.
Potgieter and a group of friends travelled all the way from Cape Town to be part of Plett Rage 2016.
He added that they planned on attending as many Plett Rage activities as possible during their time in the town.
All this partying comes at a hefty price for the youngsters and their parents, but at the same time also brings a boost to the local economy.
Potgieter said they had spent about R3 000 each on accommodation, and had budget of about R2 000 for food, drinks and entertainment.
Michael Wettle and Dolf Lombard said, excluding their accommodation and travel costs to Plett from Somerset West, they had spent about R1 200 each over the past four days. Most of the money had been spent on “booze and travelling”. “But we worked hard for the money,” Wettle said.
Ame Coetzee from Stellenbosch said their group of friends were spending about R250 a day on food and drinks.
According to research conducted during past Plett Rage festivals, about R48-million is spent in the town over the festival period. Each student spends between R5 000 and R8 000 on transport, accommodation, food and retail.
“What is great about this year is that we don’t need to fork out anything for traveling as there is free official Rage transport,” Coetzee said.
This free transport system, however, has had a few teething problems.
Assistant project manager Ashley Brown said during the first night there were extensive delays when youngsters wanted to leave The Meadows to head home. “Some had to wait about an hour to get a taxi. We immediately obtained more transport and more manpower to ease the pressure on the system,” Brown said.
There was also an incident reported about a Rage taxi driver charging youngsters for what was intended to be a free service.
“Other than some minor delays with the festival transport system and the issues with the accommodation of some students, we have had the best start to the festival we’ve ever had,” Brown said.
He added that about 4 500 students attended the first night’s performances, which included hitmakers Goldfish taking to the stage, and that they expected about 10 000 to visit over the eight-day festival ending on December 9.
Thousands of teenagers have been spending their evenings watching some of South Africa’s biggest stars perform at The Meadows as part of Plett Rage: Photo: John-Henry Bartlett
Thousands of teenagers have been spending their evenings watching some of South Africa’s biggest stars perform at The Meadows as part of Plett Rage: Photo: Willem van den Heever
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Source: Knysna Plett herald News