The sprawling NTR Beach at Vakalapudi on the city’s outskirts is gearing up for the four-day Kakinada Beach Festival scheduled to begin from Thursday. This is the fourth consecutive edition of the annual festival, which is going to be a blend of tradition and fashion with the officials planning to celebrate Sankranti festival at the same venue.
For the first time, two film crews are going to participate in the beach festival this year. While the Nani-starrer ‘Nenu Local’ film team is going to release its audio in the presence of the crowds that turned for the festival, Sarvanand-starrer ‘Satamanambhavati’ movie team is going to share the film’s audio success with the people of Kakinada. Similarly, companies such as Taher Sounds and Shreyas Media that associated with the Telugu film industry are providing the audio-visual effects and the event designing for the four-day event.
A permanent dais suitable for traditional dance performances, music shows and theatrical events is getting readied at the venue along with green rooms for the performing artistes. As many as three entry points have been designed for the VVIPs, VIPs and the general public and to avoid traffic congestion at the venue, parking lots have been created on both sides of the beach.
To avoid inconvenience to the general public, free transportation is being provided from the parking lots to the entrance gate. As a prelude to the event, a marathon was conducted in the beach on Wednesday morning, in which hundreds of students from different educational institutions, NCC cadets and NSS volunteers participated in large numbers. Sporting T-Shirts that designed exclusively for the occasion, district officials-led by Collector H. Arun Kumar participated in the run, while Kakinada Rural MLA Pilli Anantalakshmi flagged off the event.
“The beach festival is aimed at promoting Kakinada as a tourist destination. Photo exhibition of tourist spots in the districts on the LED screens is going to be one of the special attractions this year,” Mr. Arun Kumar said.
Exclusive food festivals of seafoods, eggs and local cuisine along with the exhibition of hand woven and mill made fabrics were this year’s addition to the annual event, while the much talked about flower show and the aquarium exhibition would continue to attract the visitors.
“This year, we have planned everything in detail, so that we can ensure hassle-free visit to everyone. Artistes of national repute will be going to present their song and dance on all the four days and a special place has been given to the local artistes and technicians in the list of programmes,” he said.
