By Dimithri Wijesinghe
Last Saturday (24), Backyard Events (Pvt.) Ltd. hosted the first-ever “Backyard Festival” from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Island Hostels, Kollupitiya, following which the party continued at Botanik Rooftop Bistro and Bar.
The event featured three musical acts, Unscripted, Clifford Isaac, and Ace; the latter two being DJs, all three acts played a primary role in attracting a considerable attendance to the event.
We spoke to Gihan Fernando, one of the two co-founders of Backyard Events – the other is Saarah Omar – who stated their primary objectives for organising such an event and founding their company. The first one is promoting local artists, Gihan said passionately. “There’s so much talent here, but very less opportunities for them to showcase it.” He added that when he says local talent, he also means our young entrepreneurs below the age of 30 who are doing fantastically well. The event featured multiple such businesses – Lagoon Lab, Thambili Island, La Ceylon, Moose Clothing, and Tathya Skincare.
While outlining the second objective, Gihan said: “Sri Lanka has suffered in the recent past due to the Easter Sunday attacks and we have lost our tourism. It is important to show foreigners and travellers that we have music festivals, that we are going out and enjoying ourselves. Festivals like this can act as a catalyst in encouraging tourists to visit, especially younger travellers.”
Thirdly, Gihan stressed that they wished to give back to the community, so 10% of the ticket sales will be going to those affected by the attack. With a Rs. 2,000 cover charge, the event was quite packed. However, that was largely owing to the musical acts, and the event was set up in such a way that it was aesthetically pleasing and attendees could simply “hang out”. Although, one major complaint was the lack of food; while a complementary cocktail courtesy of Red Bull came with your white wristband, the only food option was Bowl’d, an in-house restaurant. As the cover charge was quite steep (Rs. 2,500 at the gate), there were an understandably disgruntled few.
Other than the lack of food options, the event was enjoyable; although the time span of seven hours did feel a bit much, and the chunk of conversation surrounded the anticipation of when Unscripted was to play, despite times being posted the night before.
It was also interesting to see the floral shirt being somewhat the uniform in events such as this. The event looked somewhat like a La Ceylon convention while the store was also present among the stalls – a funny little observation for you.
Overall, the event was a good way to spend your Saturday. While our old lady bones did not make it to the after-party at Botanik, we saw that it looked like a good time. It was a great way to build a community and for young people to spend time together while also contributing to a good cause.