ARTSA EXPERIENcES

ARTSA!! This is the sound that could be heard being shouted from all over the venue at ARTSA…

While driving to ARTSA on the N1 highway from Pretoria towards Nylstroom which is the town where ARTSA was taking place this year, I immediately noticed something interesting but also amazing, I saw fellow tablers all over the place! While driving I could actually spot fellow tablers in their cars on the road and even if I made pit stops at filling stations, I came across fellow tablers.

It was the weirdest feeling but I absolutely loved it. I could just walk around at filling stations and while doing so, I could hear random people calling me and greeting me. Who was it? It was random fellow tablers from all over, people I have never even met before but yet, it was as if I’ve known these folks for years. Once I arrived at the venue, I went to set up my camp site right away so I could go have some fun as quickly as possible. All the tablers from my table and other nearby tables were allocated camping spots next mine which was a lot of fun as you can imagine. The whole event appeared to be mostly one giant party. When we were not partying at the camp sites, we were partying at the stage where they had speakers which could be heard from anywhere at the venue.

The whole venue including the stage had a true Bushveld vibe to it. The music at the stage was absolutely blasting and really put people in the right party mood. The stage area was the same general area where the Food Table competition was held…..Aaaah the food table…..what treat this was. It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many people come together like this and work so well together like a well oiled machine. Everyone from Gauteng area was helping at our food table and it looked fantastic. The food smelled amazing and looked the part too. The vibe around the Gauteng Food table was really something of note, everyone was pumped and in a fun jol mood.

I checked out all the other food tables from other provinces too and many of them had stuff that looked really yum. Everything about the whole event made me HUNGRY! The best part here is the food is all free. Who doesn’t like free food?

Now even though ARTSA was mostly one giant big “kuier”, we did do some serious stuff too, the AGM. I was really impressed by how smooth this massively big meeting went. I was surprisingly short and smooth, yet a lot got done. We had a couple of big points that had to be voted on like the 45yr rule but in the end all this was done and over with pretty quick.

All in all I did not think it was possible to see so many tablers in one location that all get along so well with one another and work together so well towards a common goal. I was very impressed by everything I saw and experience and I’m glad I ended up going to ARTSA. On that note…..ARTSA!!!!!

#ARTSA, #Howling

Wynand Warren Northridge 117 Secretary