The day was hot, the roads were congested, and the venues, dusty. But it all mattered little to the art lovers on Friday, as day 5 attracted the biggest crowd yet of the 57th State School Arts Festival.
The day’s biggest attraction was Group Dance, which could be termed the most popular event of the festival. The girls, beautifully made up and in stunningly colourful attire, bowled the audience over with their perfectly synchronised steps.
Before the Group Dance participants claimed the main venue at the Police Maidan, the Oppana dancers too attracted a packed house. Another popular event, Folk Dance, proved a big hit.
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People thronged the venues of other events too. The Jawahar auditorium could not accommodate the big crowd that turned out to watch Mono-act.
St. Michael’s AIHSS Ground has a much larger capacity, but that was far from enough for theatre enthusiasts, who came to watch the Drama (HS) competition. Once again, the young boys and girls caught the eye with their acting prowess.
There were fine performances in Kolkali and Chenda as well. The participants at the GVHSS were cheered by an excited crowd.
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“This could be the biggest gathering of people in Kannur city ever,” said Kannur Town Circle Inspector K.V. Venugopal. “We estimate that more than one lakh people would have watched the programmes today. But, there was no law-and-order issue and we could also manage the traffic well.”
The heavy rush at the mess hall was managed competently by the teachers. “More than 23,000 people came for lunch,” said the food committee convener K.K. Prakasan. “That was more than we expected, but we could feed everyone.”