KARACHI, Dec 29: Hundreds of thousands of people showed up at the Expo Centre in Gulshan-i-Iqbal where All about Lifestyles, a three-day exhibition sponsored by Dawn, concluded on Sunday.

Organizers said the exhibition, which had been held in Lahore and Islamabad previously for two days each, had been visited primarily by families who had taken a great deal of interest in a wide array of consumer goods being displayed there.

They attributed the considerable surge in the number of visitors to the exhibition on Sunday to the range of cultural activities being held on the sidelines of the main show. “Droves of music lovers gravitated towards the cultural show where artists from all over Sindh gave an enthralling performance. The exhibition puts stress on those performing arts which have lost popularity over the years. In this way, this exhibition has been instrumental in reviving public interest in these genres of music”

They said that singing folk songs performers like Mohammad Faqir, Ghaus Bakhsh Brohi, Sohrab Faqir, Syed Baqir Shah, Faqir Jamaluddin and Aziz Baloch cast a spell over the audience. Some of these singers sang at various shrines in Sindh, they said, adding that a large number of people had been surprised when a woman performer had drunk a copious dose of kerosene and breathed out fire from her mouth. Naturally, an ambulance had stood close by, they said.

They said the major crowd-puller on Sunday was the dog show at which 93 dogs competed with one another for the much-coveted prize. The dog show was organized in collaboration with the Kennel Club of Pakistan. Xenon, a Great Dane, was declared the best dog of the show.

The organizers said they had been particularly impressed by the discipline that the visitors displayed while waiting for their turn to get in. “There was no booing or shouting. A large number of people had to stand in a long queue for some time before they could enter the halls, yet nobody lost his cool. They all acquitted themselves splendidly.”

They said that this time around instead of paintings or photographs, cartoons made by Dawn artists Feica and Mushtaq had been put on display.

They said that as many as 70 volunteers — students from business schools, colleges and universities — had helped them organize the event.

They recalled that on Saturday more than 550 children from over 200 schools had taken part in the spelling competition.

The organizers said that a total of 106 stalls had been set up by organizations showcasing their products. The companies taking part in the exhibition include automobile manufacturers, consumer electronics, interiors, insurance, Internet service providers, IT-related products and services, home appliances, banks, financial services, travel and tourism, fashion, cosmetics, edibles and consumer goods.

The organizers said a baby show had been held on Friday in a hall reserved for the functions which had taken place on the sidelines of the exhibition.