Knysna in our shoes at Oyster Fest

KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna Oyster Festival is celebrating its 40th year as a beloved institution of this seaside town.

The festival offers a host of activities. It kicked off with the opening event at the Turbine Hotel and Spa on Thursday 29 June, where guests could mingle and get a taste of what’s to come.

The jam-packed festival programme caters for young and old alike with activities ranging from cultural and gastronomical to sports, ensuring that everyone has a whale of a time.

One of the biggest draws each year has been the Knysna Cycle Tour. This year the race boasted 1 500 entrants for the two-day event, which ran from 30 June to 2 July and comprised an 85km or 45km loop in the marvellous Knysna environment. “The Knysna Cycle tour was very well attended and loved by everyone,” says Knysna travel blogger Rose Bilbrough.

“The new routes were a big hit among the participants. The festival and its events have been gaining a lot of traction so far and it’s only been a couple of days.”

The Knysna Art Walk offers a treat for art lovers. Running from 3 to 8 July, the walk features the following artist attractions: Unblocked exhibition at the Old Goal, Faces and Flowers at Art on Queen, Local is Lekka at the Gathershop on 18 Gordon St, The Winter Show at Knysna Fine Art, Jan Raats at Jandreart on Thesen Harbour Town, Art on the Lake at Crouse Art Gallery at the Knysna Waterfront, the Gretha Helberg Exhibition at Oaks on Main, Our Town: Children’s Charity Exhibition hosted by Knysna Education Trust on the corner of Graham and Queen streets, as well as the mural by Lance Khoury, Faith DuPlessis, Beth Lowe and Chloe Obermeyer at The Deckle Edge.

The Art Walk is a means of opening up art tourism for the town and helping Knysna to reestablish itself as an artists’ hub.

The Oyster Festival of course wouldn’t be the Oyster Festival without sampling the famed Knysna oysters. All week round there will be promotions on oysters at Drydock Food CO, Sirocco, Tapas and several other fine restaurants and exceptional dining experiences in the area.

Click here to see the programme for the Knysna Oyster Festival: or see more on facebook.

“The festival is truly on! ” says Thozeka Sikali of Visit Knysna. “Many of the events are sold out and people are mostly looking forward to the Knysna Forest Marathon and Knysna Wine Festival. We have approximately 9 000 entries for this year’s Knysna Forest Marathon, it’s definitely one to watch.”

To celebrate the Knysna Oyster Festival’s 40th year running, there will be a “Knysna in my Shoes” competition as a way of giving back to the people of Knysna for making the festivities possible.

The competition encourages participants to post pictures of their shoes at iconic landmarks in Knysna during festival time, using the correct hashtags and tagging all sponsors, to win a prize worth R15 000.