Removing my gloves and feeling the cold pinch my fingers, I walk up to a camper hanging her cold, wet laundry on a makeshift washing line. Gobsmacked, I set out to discover why campers brave the cold for Festival.
Every year, marketers who arrive to “air their wears” – and their wares – at Festival have no option but to camp.
Albany Sports Club’s field is a colourful community of tents and caravans, playing host to many market holders at the greens.
The owner of Kudu Burger, Lennox van Rensburg, has been camping on the field for the past five years. “Initially, it is difficult to get used to the cold, but eventually we do.”
Essentially, fire is a camper’s best bet to keeping frostbite at bay, but these campers also have the option to visit the Albany Sports Bar, which occasionally has a roaring fire.
Campers at Drostdy Arch are less fortunate. If they can’t easily pack up their merchandise, they are forced to stay nearby in their vehicles, or in tents, or they have to stand up all night to guard their wares.
“I don’t make enough money to leave,” says metalwork artist Suleiman Rugigana, who is a regular at Festival. Life is harder for them now that the old Village Green has stopped accommodating them.
Rugigana, with chapped lips and wearing four jackets, stays up all evening, trying to sell his stock. “We are camping for no means. We have talent, but we aren’t showing our talent to anyone.”
Artist Didymus Murwira agrees with Rugigana. “I thought the Festival turning 40 years would be great, but I just end up losing. It was not worth coming.”
– By Athina May
