Cape Town - The Cape Town festive lights and festivities connected to the switch-on will be back this year and everyone is hopeful the event will give a much-needed boost to their fortunes, which were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The open-air concert part of the annual event is still in the planning stages with local performances to be announced in the coming weeks.
The event and free concert will cost the City R4.5 million and is scheduled to take place at the Grand Parade on November 27. In the past it has seen thousands of residents flocking to the CBD to enjoy live performances.
“The festive lights switch-on is a wonderful Cape Town tradition, and has always been a personal favourite of ours. I am particularly excited this year to welcome back the whole of Cape Town so we can celebrate as a ‘city family’ for the first time since 2019,” mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said.
The event has been lauded for not only bringing Cape Town residents together but for boosting informal trading opportunities in the CBD.
Western Cape Informal Traders Coalition chairperson Rosheda Muller said: “We have been in a meeting with the City and we have engaged last week and there is an indication that there could be opportunities for us.”
She said these discussions were still ongoing and had not yet been finalised.
“We are hoping that we could make up for the losses that we suffered economically. It’s been very tough and it still is. I think it looks positive that we could be gaining from that.”
When asked about opportunities for traders, the City said: “Due to the scale of the event and safety requirements, no street vending is allowed.”
“Only the Grand Parade traders are allowed an opportunity in Lower Plein Street. The permanent kiosks on the Grand Parade will also be trading on the day.”
Faldiela Gamieldien, who has been selling flowers at Adderley Street’s Trafalgar Place for more than 30 years, said she wasn’t as enthusiastic this year as she had been in previous years.
“We normally are looking forward to it, you know that time when they made the stalls in the road, and the road was closed, then we were busy but now seeing that there are no food stalls and traders located in Adderley like it used to be, business is not the same.
“People came out, looked at the lights, walked in Adderley Street, there was clothes and whatever, the stalls were selling but since they took that away, business doesn’t work for us,” she said.