It’s time for the Port Alfred Easter Festival 2nd edition. We spoke to Justin Bekker, the Royal St Andrews Hotel MD and the driving force behind the Festival.
It’s like your baby is turning two. What changes are in store for festival goers?
This year, we’re very excited to add the SA Open Surfing Champs to the surfing mix. This awesome event will be hosted in Port Alfred. This year marks the 60th anniversary of this event, which is a big deal.
The concert was a highlight of the weekend last year. Hence, we decided to try another venue just behind Rosehill Mall. It can accommodate more people and won’t disturb any residents with noise. It will be a two-day event featuring 10 local SA artists, including Jack Parow, Van Pletzen, Majozi, December Streets, and Appel, to mention a few notable names. So remember to book your tickets for Bands in the Bush through Howler.co.za! It’s going to be epic!
Rip Curl GromSearch
How does the history of the festival work?
In 2023, the Royal St Andrews Hotel participated in a Rip Curl GromSearch surfing event for youngsters.
How did it move from that point to this?
Credit must be given to Craig Jarvis for being the catalyst that inspired the idea of the Port Alfred Easter Festival. The Rip Curl GromSearch held in 2023 ran exceptionally well, and I was very interested in having it return in 2024.
In speaking to Craig about bringing it back, I asked if we could have it over Easter Weekend. Port Alfred’s tourism industry is very seasonal, and having an attraction over holiday periods dramatically benefits the town’s economy. Craig suggested hosting more events than just the GromSearch, including the Rip Curl Cup. This would result in over R2 M worth of media value as a return on investment. The idea to expand this into a town-wide Festival with multiple events that could piggyback on that marketing reach to make a big tourist attraction for Easter was born. So here we are, very excited to enter the second iteration!
Royal St Andrews Hotel History
Tell us a little about the history of the Royal St Andrews Hotel, including how your dad developed the hotel space and the surfing influence.
My late father, Martin Bekker, spontaneously bought the hotel in 2013. He had a morning walk on the beach and found a perfect Paper Nautilus shell. This was followed by lunch at the Highlander. Thereafter, he ran into the owner, who told him he wanted to sell.
He had been visiting Port Alfred for just over 5 years and had seen how seasonal the town was. Businesses would open in November and, by March of the following year, would be closed due to a lack of business. He also knew that winter was the best time of year to be in town. This is when the sea is ironically warmest and the days are still fairly warm. So, he decided to use the hotel to try to change the seasonality of the town. He knew it needed several key upgrades. Such as adding 50 rooms, conferencing venues, and a day spa with upscale restaurants offering delicious food and service.
The original concept is quite different from what we ended up with, but a massive positive impact on the town was still achieved.
Younger Crowd
Since the advent of remote work, we’ve also seen a much younger crowd move permanently to Port Alfred, which has significantly improved the local economy.
Part of attracting visitors is hosting events, and sports are a tremendous unifying activity, especially in South Africa, if you look at what winning the Rugby World Cup has done for us as a nation. Being a coastal town, surfing and bodyboarding are ingrained in us and bringing big events is excellent for our surfing culture.
My dad started supporting the Amanzi Festival in 2017. Since then, I have taken over, developed a relationship with Rip Curl, and become involved with the Sunshine Coast Tourism Board. Thus, the Port Alfred Easter Festival was born.
Kelly Slater, Jordy Smith
There is a story about 11-time world champion Kelly Slater saying some good things about the waves at East Beach. Also, was it Jordy Smith? Do you know this story?
When Kelly Slater and Jordy Smith were competing in the JBay Open, they would come through to Port Alfred on their off days to surf at East Beach and then come to The Highlander for lunch afterwards. They mentioned to one of our staff that East Beach is one of their favourite surf spots, and they hope it remains the best-kept secret in the surfing world. Well, sorry boys, it won’t be a secret much longer!
It has been a helluva year, to put it mildly, since last year’s Port Alfred Easter Festival. What do you do personally to help sanity prevail when things get manic? Go running? Go drinking? Fishing? Edibles?
You’re telling me! Keeping up with all my responsibilities at The Royal St Andrews Hotel and outside of it is challenging. Exercise is a great stress reliever, so I play quite a bit of tennis at the Port Alfred Tennis Club. I love running, and I’ve started playing golf and hitting the gym as often as possible. It’s possible that I have found the limit a couple of times of how far those endorphins can get you.
Even though a beer or two after a long day is heavenly, a healthy lifestyle is a better sanity helper than drinking; I can vouch for that! Surrounding yourself with a few close friends helps immensely; I’m very grateful for them.
Bands Innie Bush
This year, there are ten bands, and the Bands Innie Bush Fest looks massive. Some of the proceeds go to NSRI Station 11. Tell us about the Bands Innie Bush and why you selected NSRI as a proceeds recipient.
This year is a bit of an experiment to see how well Afrikaans acts perform compared to English in terms of attendance, and how a two-day concert performs. The lineup is a banger, and we can’t wait for it all to come together. Our location behind Rosehill Mall is amazing and has some real potential as a venue for future music events.
As far as NSRI Station 11 goes, not only does the town rely heavily on the brave souls who volunteer to keep our waters safe, but they also provide our water safety during the Festival. There are a lot of costs involved in maintaining and running the station and equipment, patrolling the coastline and rivers, and developing life-saving skills in volunteers and the community, which is why donations to the station are very important. They do a lot for our town, so we decided to support them by donating some of the ticket sales made at Bands Innie Bush.
So please remember when buying your ticket that you support South African music and our local heroes at NSRI Station 11! We hope to see a massive crowd!
Hooligans
Lots of surfers will be in town, including lots of juniors. Are they hooligans or well-mannered young ladies and gentlemen? Or somewhere in between?
Oh my word, the juniors are an absolute nightmare! No, just kidding. They’re some of the most well-mannered and polite young ladies and gents we have the pleasure of hosting. They always have a great positive attitude, are humble, and are full of smiles.
It’s always a pleasure seeing the young and upcoming surfing talent on display, both in the waves and in their conduct on the shore. The adults, though… as the surfers say, ‘what goes on tour stays on tour’.
Please explore the area, visit Bathurst and Kenton-On-Sea, support the local restaurants and businesses, meet our friendly locals, check out the hiking trails and activities in and around the area and maybe pop in at one of our real estate agents to have a look at what your next potential home could look like.
“We’ve been working very hard to make the Port Alfred Easter Festival an exciting experience for all this year”
Read more: Easter Festival.
