ISLAMABAD: As the second day of ‘Dawn All About Lifestyles’ closed at the Convention Centre on Sunday, vendors and visitors expressed satisfaction over the success of the exhibition.

A large number of families attended the exhibition. With activities for children and great bargains for adults, the exhibition offered attractions for the whole family.

Tahir Mahmood Lodhi, a visitor to the exhibition, left without a single shopping bag but with three very happy children. He said his children enjoyed spending their evening participating in art activities at the children’s section.

“Most stalls were selling regular household groceries so I was more interested in allowing my kids to have a good time,” he said.

A great feature of the exhibition this year was live traditional music played by musicians from Gilgit-Baltistan. Dance performances by young men from the area, arranged by the GB tourism department, drew a large number of people to the open tent at the entrance.

Another visitor, Dr Razia Sultana, said: “It is impossible to come here and not shop or eat. It is a great annual event and people can come spend the whole day looking around. I always run into friends here.”

Amina Raja, who was selling skincare products at a stall, said: “People did come and we sold quite a lot of our products. There weren’t as many people as last year but I think that may be because the exhibition was organised later in the year than usual.”

Muneeb Yousaf, National Brand Manager for Moreish Pakistan, was equally pleased with the turnout and said: “We import good quality olive oil from Spain and this was a good opportunity for us to share information about our products.” He added the sales had also been good.

Rashid Mahmood at the Saeed Ghani stall said: “We were selling things at a discounted rates and people bought both perfumes and herbal products. Yesterday there weren’t a lot of visitors but today made up for that.”

Ayaz Ali from Bake Parlor observed: “I have been coming to this exhibition for years and it seems that there are fewer food products being sold here. There are electronics and furniture but fewer grocery stalls.”

Syeda Irum Fatima at the Golden Pearl stall was delighted with the exhibition. She said: “People can buy products at huge discounts at our stall. I think this is true for most of the stalls. Also these kinds of events give people a chance to socialise.”

Malik Atiqur Rehman at the Dawn Foods stall said: “The sale on the second day has outpaced yesterday’s. We have sold a large number of bread loaves and buns and children really like our individually wrapped cupcakes.”

Another visitor, Mrs. Usman, said: “I have been here since morning as my sister was volunteering at the face painting stall. My children loved the exhibition and my son dragged even his grandparents along. I played all the games for housewives and won the jigsaw game.”

“You can say we ate both lunch and dinner here and now we will just go home to sleep,” she added.

Published in Dawn December 22th , 2014