BAHAWALPUR: A three-day colourful food and family festival titled ‘Bahawalpur Eat’, organised by the Cantonment Board Bahawalpur (CBB), opened here at the Gulzar-i-Sadiq Park on Saturday.

A large number of people, especially women and children, thronged the park to enjoy a number of programmes which are part of the event that was inaugurated by Bahawalpur Station Commander Brig Muhammad Moaz.

The venue was tastefully decorated with balloons and banners. The most interesting part of the event was a puppet show that was followed by a magic show, attracting a large number of children.

CBB Executive Officer Rana Ramiz Shafqat said the three-day event offers food stalls, magic shows, games, bonfire, live music, eating contest, cooking demonstrations and food testing, besides stalls of jewellery, cosmetics, and handicrafts etc.

Qawwali Night will also be another attraction for the visitors, where notable Qawwals of the country will perform on Sunday. He says the initiative is aimed at providing a healthy recreational activity to the people, particularly women and children from the walled city and other areas.

He says a large variety of food, including traditional Cholistan dishes, will be available to the visitors, besides colourful cultural programmes at the event.

Saying that a recreational event on such a large scale is being held for the first time in the city, he hopes it will go a long way in boosting local businesses.

The event’s co-organiser Shafique Chaudhry told Dawn that the turnout on the first day was impressive and particularly women and schoolchildren have arrived in a large number because of the weekend.

Meanwhile, a function was organised at the Government Secondary School here for the visually impaired persons in connection with the international day of persons with different abilities, where City Assistant Commissioner (AC) Dr Anam Fatima was the chief guest.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2022