Kalimpong welcomes tourists as fest begins

SNS, Kalimpong, 13 January 2023: Kalimpong welcomed tourists as a three-day-long 'Tourism Festival-2023' kicked off to a colourful start here yesterday.

Along with musical bands. cultural shows, food stalls, pet show, local Youtubers' meet would be the main attraction of the event. Performances will be held at the Mela Ground in the town in the programme being organised by the Hill Youth Social, Cultural & Sports Society.

The event was inaugurated at Trikon Park, Thana Dara with a rally that marched with the SUM! school band contingent. Gorkhaland Territoral Administration (GTA) Chief Executive Anit Thapa attended the inaugural function as the Chief Guest, while Darjeeling's Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Chettri, and Kalimpong MLA Ruden Sada Lepcha, were guests of honour..

The other guests included elected Sabhasads of the GTA from 13 Constituencies in Kalimpong district. 

The event was hosted by Suraj Mani Pradhan where the welcome speech was delivered by GTA Member on Duty, Tourism, Suman Gurung. Mr Gurung laid stress on the tourism potential that Kalimpong held.

Three persons- Dr Lendup Bhutia, Dr Sujoy Tamang for academic excellence, and Paul Prakash Rai for contribution to social and constitutional areas of Darjeeling district were also felicitated during the programme. 

As the guests inspected the stalls, they were greeted with cultural songs and dances, while a fashion show was also held, in collaboration with the Kalimpong Pageant and SoK. 

"The idea is to make this a calendar event so that tourists schedule their tour just for this," said Paul Rai, Resource Person, Kalimpong Tourist Festival. "We have assured that even local talents could showcase their talents in the event.

Therefore, we have requested various development boards to send in their participants in the show," he added.

According to Mr Rai, a "Mr Kalimpong" will be crowned on the last day of the festival, while hands and singers like Nomads Band and Yankee Yolmo are set to perform on the stage and entertain the tourists. "The traditional Gorkha cuisine had a great taste, which is available in the stalls," a tourist said, even as another added that the stalls had a variety of local food, handicraft and other items and that they thoroughly enjoyed the performances.

"The Tourism Festival will end on 14 January, and the various events are going to encourage local entrepreneurs, as after the Covid pandemic, there is a huge upsurge among youths to do businesses in their own hometown and contribute significantly to society. We hope we are providing them the platform," one of the organisers said.