FESTIVAL-goers will have another taste of Brazilian samba — always a drawcard to the global fiesta — as the South American girls will once again headline this year’s edition of the cultural fete which has been rebranded “Big Time Harare International Carnival”
BY PRECIOUS CHIDA
This year’s festivities to run from September 1 to 10 will attract representatives from over 25 countries and see Robert Mugabe Way in the capital getting a major facelift ahead of the showcase.
The usually busy and dirty road, which has been reduced into a vendors’ haven, will be used as the main route for the festivities running under the theme, One Love, Our Unity, Our Pride.
Big Time Strategic Group was unveiled as the festival’s major sponsor for the next three years.
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In a press briefing during the official unveiling of the festival’s programme yesterday, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief operating officer, Givemore Chidzidzi, said the renovation of Robert Mugabe Way was also meant to honour Mugabe, after whom it was named.
“We cannot continue to cast a blind eye to that as a nation. Robert Mugabe Way is named after our iconic President so we need to show respect and pay homage to the head of state by creating order and sanity on this road,” he said.
“We are going to put proper vending stalls which are also environmentally friendly along Robert Mugabe Way.”
He added that the festival will also link with the mainstream economy.
Chidzidzi said apart from the socio-cultural benefits to accrue from the event, it also has a huge impact on the country’s economy.
“The last time we had the carnival in 2015 according to our research the event generated around $21 million within the week of the carnival thereby delivering considerable benefits not only to individuals, but to the economy at large,” he said.
Chidzidzi said they were going to take the festival to First Street in their next project in a bid to restore the street’s lost glamour.