The two-day maiden Mangaluru River Festival to promote riverfront activities will begin at the jetty adjoining the air crash victims’ memorial park in Kuloor on Saturday. Activities will be held at the Bangra Kuloor and Sulthan Bathery stages.
District in-charge Minister U.T. Khader will inaugurate the event by flagging off the maiden ferry ride from the floating jetty adjoining the park to Bangra Kuloor at 8.15 a.m.
While most of the programmes will be at the 23-acre government land in Bangra Kuloor, some of the programmes will be at the Kuloor jetty and Sulthan Bathery jetty.
The flea market and food stalls selling traditional dishes will be at Bangra Kuloor. A range of cultural programmes are lined up from 12.30 p.m. Apart from folk dance, there will be western dance, instrumental music and electro-organic music presentations. The river film festival will be held at 6.15 p.m. Agnii Art for All will present a world music band performance at 7.20 p.m. on Saturday, while J and B Vibes will present Konkani Polka, Rock and other music at the same time on Sunday.
People can directly come to Bangra Kuloor by getting down before Kuloor bridge and walking down the narrow road. Visitors can also ride in their bicycles and go by vehicles provided by the organisers. Those coming in their own vehicles have to park them near the air crash victims’ memorial park and take a ferry for ₹50 to Bangra Kuloor.
All the water-based competitions will be held on Sunday. The kayaking and standup paddling competitions will be held at Kuloor jetty. The boat race will be held at Bangra Kuloor.