Melmoth hosts its Hartklop Plattelandfees

HIER kom a nuwe ding! Melmoth will host a festival of many wondrous things this weekend, when the NG Kerk launches its first-ever Hartklop Plattelandfees.

The two-day event will feature a host of activities for children and adults alike. Setting the scene on Friday will be a children’s theatre and a Kooperasiestories-inspired evening of storytelling. Local raconteurs, storytellers and historians will gather in the “voorkamer” to reminisce about Melmoth life and history, while children enjoy the evergreen tale of Red Riding Hood.

Hartklop Plattelandfees offers two days of sporting fun and challenge, with a motorbike marathon (including one specifically for the juniors), biking events, a golf day (and golf lessons), horseriding, clay-pigeon shooting (skyfskiet), a fun walk, and modern dance.

Biking enthusiasts can spin the wheels of any steel steed, with mountain biking, scrambler and other biking events on offer.

A provincial fisherman will also be offering a course on the intricacies of hooks and knots and other techniques for the modern-day fisherman.

Arts and creativity will have courses for every taste, including photographic, modern dance, painting and drawing, multimedia and mosaic lessons, and cupcakes for the creative cook.

“Tourists” to Melmoth can enjoy the rural equivalent of an open-air bus tour, with a tractor-and-trailor ride that will showcase the scenic parts of Mthonjaneni’s rolling hills and valleys.

All the fun of the fair will be on offer, with all the well-known games and popular funfair treats like candy floss, ice-cream and popcorn.

And as we all know, the ladies of the NG Kerk know their onions … and their koeksisters and melktert and pancakes and puddings and tuisgebak of every flavour! The Hartklopfees will also be a Kosfees!

And the organisers dare you to take a trip through “Die Skuur” … a barn that offers many surprises, and possibly a few scares.

There will also be an auction of many wondrous things, an art exhibition, and handicraft stalls, and it will end on Saturday evening with a concert by Wynand and Cheree Strydom.

The Melmoth NG Kerk supports many charitable causes, including an orphanage.

The event is being held on 29 and 30 May at the Melmoth Golf Club. It opens on Friday evening at 6.30pm, and picks up again at 8:00am on Saturday with a full day of events.

For more information, see the Hartklop Plattelandfees on Facebook or contact Karlien on karlienvanwyk@gmail.com or telephone: 084 250 2473.