Riebeek Valley Olive Festival cancelled due to drought.

The organisers of the Riebeek Valley Olive Festival have taken the difficult decision to cancel this year’s Olive Festival in light of the severe drought conditions prevalent in the Western Cape. The Riebeek Valley Olive Festival currently in its 18^th year, attracts over 12 000 people to the Riebeek Valley over the course of the two day festival.  The organisers believe it would be irresponsible and inappropriate to continue with the festival in light of the extreme water restrictions most households, businesses and farms are facing and that this will ultimately compromise the standard of the event experience and the social impact thereof.

Says Klaus Piprek, chairman of Riebeek Valley Tourism: ‘The water footprint of the anticipated 12 000 visitors for a single weekend event cannot reasonably be justified, whereas we should focus on the longer term sustainable social and economic impacts of the community at large. We feel we should rather put measures in place to ensure that the tourism sector is able to sustain a minimum level of business until the crisis is overcome.’

A 100% refund for tickets bought to date will be issued through Webtickets.  All credit card payments will be automatically refunded.  For EFT/ Pick n Pay purchases, please send your bank details to refunds@webtickets.co.za.

The next Riebeek Valley Olive Festival will take place on 4 and 5 May 2019.

For more information kindly contact Yvette Puchert 083 441 2083