The Harfield Village Carnival is a street festival which happens in this busy little area in Cape Town’s southern suburbs. The festival, which received over 15 ooo visitors this year, doubled in size from the 2014 event, showing just how popular it has become.

A section of streets in Harfield are closed and businesses from the area open their doors and set up stalls for visitors to eat, drink and connect with friends. The festival covers everything that a good outdoor festival should – an exciting array of food, wine, craft beers and lots of great things to buy. Stalls lined the streets and included clothes, accessories, home decor, toys and more – busy shoppers were absolutely spoilt for choice.

The carnival offers the opportunity to sample food from restaurants in the area and this is a great way to get to know what is on offer in the village. Marquees set up outside each eatery invited visitors to sit, get a bit of respite from the sun, enjoy a drink  and listen to live music.

The Carnival is not just about having a good time though, its about creating positive change. Proceeds raised go towards various projects in the village, including supporting charities such as U Turn and Project Daphne (assisting elderly people in the village). Investment in the beautification of village and parks with gardens and trees, infrastructure such as fencing and security and leaning of village streets, gutters and removal of graffiti.

The sense of community is evident and it is great to see how neighbours pull together to make the event a success, it is great model that will most likely be followed by other areas around the city.