Sanur Village Festival 2014 at Segara Beach
It’s mid-August, the kites are buzzing away in the sky, long-term residents complain about being cold, and the Sanur Village Festival (now in its ninth year) is upon us again. Soon, I will be caught out in the first rain of the year on my motorbike without my rain gear, dreaming of driving a car. Until I get into traffic. Thus flows the cycle of Bali life.
My enduring memory of the festival last year was sitting in the German beer and sausage tent chatting away for a few hours with Joris from SeaTrek and his wife Lani. Half a kilo of sausages, bread and mustard and a few too many wheat beers later, I managed to struggle to my feet, have a little wander, bump into several retired Bali Bulldogs FC superstars (actually, they were all at the beer tent too) and hear some cracking late night karaoke from the main stage. You would not be wrong to suggest I didn’t experience all that the festival offers last year.
Like a New Year’s resolution, or a Nyepi resolution, my vow to experience more of Sanur Festival this year has not gone well. It hasn’t officially started, but the build-up events did begin with a 10k run today. I didn’t realise until after it had finished, otherwise I definitely would have dusted off my running shoes and walked up to the finish line to see what it was all about. Definitely.
Anyway, so I went to the official website, http://www.sanurvillagefestival.com to check out the schedule. I think the whole site has been Google Translated from Indonesian, because I found it difficult to grasp all of the background information. Go to the site and have a read, tell me what it all means.
I did manage to snag the schedule though:
Event’s Schedule
Concerning about the situation of nature, the series of the 9th Sanur Village Festival 2014 will be conducted as follow:
- Photo Exhibition will be held on 15th August 2014
- Sanur Run will be on 16th August 2014
- Sanur Kreatif Expo will be on 20th August 2014
- Village Cycling Tour will be on 21th August 2014
- Surfing Competition will be on 22nd August 2014
- Golf Tournament will be on 23rd August 2014
- Sanur Kite Festival will be on 24th August 2014
- 9Th Sanur Village Festival 2014 will be held on 20th – 24th August 2014
The Venue
- 2006 – 2008 : Cottage Inna Grand Bali Beach Sanur
- 2009 : Pantai Mertasari
- 2010 : Cottage Inna Grand Bali Beach Sanur
- 2011 : Pantai MataharI Terbit
- 2012 – 2014 : Maisonnette Area Inna Grand Bali Beach Sanur
Main Programs
- Environment Activities
- Beach clean up
- Coral plantation
- Pelepasan tukik
- Extinction plantation
- Festival Exhibition
- Sanur Kreatif Expo
- Cultural Parade
- Music, Art and Traditional Performances
- Horticulture
- KOI Festival
- Culinary
- Food Festival
- Food Heritage
- Painting
- Painting on the spot
- Body Painting
- Workshop
- Creative Workshop
- Photography
- Photo Exhibition
- Photo Competition
- Fun & Sport activities
- Sanur Kite Festival
- Fun Games
- Fun Run
- Sanur Golf Tournament
- Jukung Competition
- Fishing Tournament
- Kids Zone
- Village Cycling Tour
- Surfing Competition
- Yoga
What you can grasp without any translation is that Sanur Village Festival is a celebration of the village’s (or group of villages that make up Sanur) cultural and artistic heritage, its long held status and slow re-emergence as a tourism hotspot, its historical and spiritual prominence within Bali, and its unique community atmosphere. It’s a great reason to get out and see people who’ve been hiding in their day to day lives, and there’s lots of food and drink from Sanur’s favourite restaurants. That’s just in the evenings.
As you can see above, the festival starts on the 20th of August, this Wednesday, at Maisonnette Area, Inna Grand Bali Beach Sanur. That’s Segara beach. To get there, enter at the top of Jl. Segara Ayu, the back way to the football pitch and golf course. They do have parking there, but it turns into a bit of a zoo by late afternoon so if you’re going for a night feast, I’d walk or bemo there if you can.
Are you going to Sanur Village Festival this year? What makes it special for you? Let us know your experiences, please share any photos or stories, and hope to see you this year. I’ll be at the Hatten Wine hoops game.