Shillong Autumn Festival on October 26-27

SHILLONG: The Autumn Festival which which was held last year after a long gap is back again this year with more fun and entertainment.
The Shillong Autumn Festival, one of the major festivals in the state aimed at attracting tourists, made a successful comeback last year after the new organisers Opus Production took over the event from the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum.
The festival will be held on October 26 and 27 at the Water Sports Complex in Orchid Lake Resort, Umiam.
Making the announcement on Saturday, Alethea Lyngwa, one of the members of the Opus Production said that the festival is one of Shillong’s most popular and the main objective is to make it the biggest festival of the year.
“We should have a festival which is synonymous with the city and the state, which will attract tourists and in which the entire local population will also be part of,” she said.
Lyngwa also informed that the tourism department has decided to partner and support the festival as the target is to push it to a point where tourists could relate to the state and its people.
Andreas War, who is also a member of Opus Production said that the whole agenda is to attract more people from outside Assam such as West Bengal and other states.
In line with this year’s theme – ‘Rhythm of Meghalaya’, War informed that a beat contest for music bands will be held in the first week of October as part of the run up to the festival.
“We have kept it open not only to bands from Meghalaya but from other states as well. The prize money for the beat contest is Rs 1 lakh and the runner’s up is Rs 50,000. The winner of course will get to perform on the autumn festival’s main stage,” he said.
The fun filled festival will offer its visitors a wide array of entertaining events with cultural programmes, fashion shows and musical concerts.
The two-day event will also feature Mumbai-based rock band Indus Creed and an international DJ from the US besides renowned local bands like Snow White and Summersalt. Other highlights of the family-oriented event will include water sports, kids’ play area, magic shows, foodstalls, merchandise, Gen-X stage and camping facilities at the picturesque lake.