Festival makes a big SPLASH in Knysna!

This year’s Knysna SPLASH festival was the most successful ever, confirms Knysna Rotary President and event director Mick Furman, and the four events (the Mud Run, the Lagoon Mile Swim, the Canoe Races and the Quack Attack duck race) were all well-supported.

Says Furman: “The Mud Run was brought back due to public demand this year and participant numbers were more than 50% higher than the last event we held in 2014. There were 280 entrants in the Lagoon Mile Swim this year compared with 200 last year; the number of long distance Canoe Race competitors was double that of last year; and all 1,000 Quack Attack duck tickets were sold.”

The two-day festival saw a good mix of locals and visitors participating in the four events. “Mother Duck” and her “chicks” added lots of fun and excitement to the duck races at Knysna Waterfront where hundreds of spectators lined the quays to watch the plastic ducks race heats in the canal.

This year a fascinating puppet show promoting safe swimming and the Knysna forest thrilled young audiences who were delighted by the appearance of Knysna Life Savers supervisor, Kayla Ferreira.

Furman said that the money raised by the SPLASH festival is used by Rotary to promote safe swimming to local children in the area. “In the past 12 months, the funds from last year’s SPLASH were used to fund the training of five local youngsters who are now part of the newly formed Knysna Life Savers Club and swimming instruction was given to local children from underprivileged communities in the Knysna area.

“All in all, the SPLASH Festival makes a significant contribution to the creation of a holiday atmosphere in Knysna over the festive season.”