Bamenda set to host cultural, heritage fair

Metropolitan Bamenda set to emerge as a heritage city as preparations intensify.

Conceived to present the heritage and patrimony of the North West Region, the imminent holding of the Bamenda Culture and Heritage Fair is on virtually every lip in the city’s neighbourhoods.

Scheduled to run from February 7-21, 2015, the event that is expected to feature an intensive cultural week, is organised to brand Bamenda as a heritage city through the promotion of the hybrid cultures of the entire region.

The Bamenda City Council and the Ministry of Arts and Culture are to thank for the initiative, which shall celebrate the cultural specificities of the seven divisions of the North West Region as well as some cultures of Cameroon through people resident within the Bamenda City Council area.

The project’s Promoter and General Coordinator, the Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council, Ndumu Nji Vincent, believes that the event will expose the socio-cultural ways of life of the people and celebrate a new cultural heritage industry for the region.

Stressing the good faith of the project, Bamenda City Council Communication’s Officer, Jude Waindim, says it is welcome in a city of petty trading in agro-pastoral produce and in art and craft.

The event, according to him, shall be rolled out in cultural and trade fair themes that feature several items. These are cultural dances of traditional patrimony, traditional dresses that tell the story of the people and re-enact cultural heritage and choral displays.

Others are culinary arts, guided tours to heritage sites, plastic arts, exhibitions, musical and live band animations and carnivals, horse race, commercial exposition and general fanfare.

From the look of things, the event will offer a rare moment for Bamenda and the North West to showcase strength in culture. It will also be a moment for the rebirth of culture and arts. “The contribution of youths and cultural heritage to an emerging economy” is the general theme of the event.