The two-day Gulmarg Winter Festival organised by the Indian Army in collaboration with the Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA), the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Department and several other institutions culminated on Wednesday.
The festival held this week was the second one of its kind this year. The first edition was held on March 3 and 4 in collaboration with the GDA, J&K Tourism and the Gulmarg Hotel Association.
The earlier event held was the “Amrit Jyoti Gulmarg Winter Festival– 2022.
It is significant that the two winter festivals are being held in the Kashmir Valley during the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" celebrations to commemorate 75 years of India's independence from British colonial rule.
The two-day festival saw the talented youth of Kashmir taking part in a music event as well as performing dances in front od a large gathering of people and invitees.
Speaking on the occasion, one of the organisers said: "We are very happy to bring another edition of the Gulmarg Winter Festival.This year we are also happy to introduce our new partners - Gulmarg Development Authority, the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Board and of course all people of Gulmarg, including the Hotel Association, the ATP Association, the Pony & Horses Association, the Trekkers Cooperative and all the other organisations which have teamed up with us to bring you another edition of this wonderful festival.”
"As you are aware it's a two-day festival and in terms of ingredients it has all the things like ETV Race, Mule Race, that is the Pony Race, Horse Races, the treks, the mini-marathon, online painting and drawing competition, a large number of stalls, including some stalls set up by the Gujjars and Paharis, and of course the display of the most multifarious, vivid and incredibly talented Kashmiri youth in terms of their music, in terms of their dances and other cultural performances," he added.
The organiser further went on to say that, "Yesterday we had a wonderful day. In addition we had skydiving by the army skydivers. Behind me you see a tethered balloon; we also have hot air balloon rides for the people. Last year we use to have this festival during the peak of winter,but this year we thought it would be more appropriate to bring it at the onset of winter, and hence this two-day festival. Today we are on the second and final day of the celebration of the festival here.”
Talking about the objectives of the festival, he said: "The aim of this festival is to showcase the spirit of adventure, the rich talent and natural beauty of Kashmir. As evident, the large turnout of locals and the other tourists is evident of the peace, tranquillity and the normalcy that is here. The wide range of talent that is being showcased to you is testimony to the huge aspiration levels and the incredible talent of the Kashmiri people here. So I think we have achieved the twin objective of showcasing Kashmir in general, Gulmarg in particular as a tourist destination as also the incredible talent of the aspirational youth of Kashmir have. So these are the two-fold aims of conducting this festival and it brings together people from all walks of life from the absolutely rural to the absolutely urban, from the very young to the not so young, from the very talented to the struggling artists, I think we have given them a wonderful platform for greater visibility and confidence building.”
In conclusion, he said that he hoped all participants would have a good festival and enjoy themselves while showcasing both talent and objectives to a larger audience.