Ondo 2014 Mare Festival as never before!
31.Dec.2014 Wale Ojo-Lanre , Nigerian Tribune
The memories of the musical legends of Orlando Owo, Herbert Ogunde, Madam Comfort Omoge and others whose songs and acts were performed by budding and professional artistes coupled with the inauguration of Idanre Mountain Resorts made the 2014 Edition of Mare Festival in Idanre, Ondo State a unique , unforgettable and evergreen event of last year.
Mare Festival is an annual sporting and mountain climbing event initiated by Dr Olusegun Mimiko’s admnistration to celebrate and promote the cultural heritage of the people of Ondo State with a view to boosting the economy of the state, creating a platform for enhancement, development and rewarding innate talents in the state.
The uniqueness of the event as earlier promised by the Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade in the pre-event media hype was attained as the inauguration of the resorts and change in the pattern of programme brought new fascinating dimensions into the celebration. In fact, the mountains and other living souls in the sunshine state of Ondo will continue to remember year 2014 edition of Mare as an event with a difference, though the coming one is expected to be greater than this, but it is obvious that last year’s celebration marked a watershed in the history of Idanre and Ondo State in its quest to sell Idanre as a destination.
The economic activities received an extraordinary boost as hotels and business ventures in the state enjoyed an improved patronage compared to the previous years.
Iya Eli a local food seller who specialises in pupuru, a local food and pounded yam revealed the economic impact of the festival on her business, “I have made more than 10 times of what I used to make in a day, I have been enjoying this patronage since the day this event started and I wish it goes on like this, everybody around make more profits.” Likewise, Alhaja, a beer joint operator also testified to the increase in her patronage since the festival started
“I have adjusted my prices in relation to the demand from the deluge of customers brought in by Mare. This is one of the reasons why I cannot and never forget the tenure of Governor Mimiko in my life. Mare Festival has kick started a good trading time for us in the beer business here in Idanre and this is how it will be till mid-January 2015. This is a beneficial programme and entertainment event of fortune for us.”
Joseph Akinnuli one of the Okada operators in Idanre smiled as he was asked to assess the festival. “Can’t you see me smiling? Don’t you see my face glowing? Mimiko brought Mare for people like us to make money. To me, this is one of the best programmes Mimiko ever implemented. At least, I feel the impact. I am making the money. I will by God’s grace with the money I made in the last three days here, offset my cooperative liability on the bike and save for for the new year.”
Apart from the economic impact, The 2014 celebration also created a platform for budding talents in the entertainment industry as over 200 young talents were discovered during the auditioning in various arts and acts as the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor Of Ondo State on Culture and Tourism, Ambassador Wanle Akinboboye said the government will initiate exchange programmes with some countries so as to fast track the full development of these talents into potentials who will also contribute to the glory of Ondo State.
“As you can see, Mare is not only for sport-cultural-tourism entertainment alone, but a unique way of discovering hidden talents and we are happy that over 200 combustive talents have been discovered. We are going to help them burst to the benefit of themselves, Ondo State and Nigeria.”
2014 Mare Festival brought its significance out visibly for being the first ever to be celebrated at the foot of the world’s famous Idanre Hills which was hitherto a toilet and abode of hemp smokers. Many people who have visited the base of Idanre hills before were surprised to see the hitherto stinking, bushy and dirty site turned into a beautiful resort of international standard with all the components therein. The Idanre Hills Resort has a functioning bar, open stage where all the musicians performed, an amphitheatre, swimming pool, indoor game centre and houses built on rocks and trees. A concept and creativity credited to ability and agility of Ambassador Akinboboye who took up the task of transforming the sites to such a fascinating spot three months before the 2014 Mare was held.
Virtually everybody who visited the resort commended Governor Mimiko’s led admnistration for not only being visionary, but creating something big out of rubbish. In fact, the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Commission, (NTDC), Mrs Sally Mbanefo who was the Special Guest of Honour at the inauguration of the resort could not hide her feeling as as she went round the Resort “I am happy that we are having here a Governor who is not paying lip expression to tourism development, but going all the hog at actual development and enhancement of the tourism assets in his stste. Governor Mimiko is great.”
Mrs Mbanefo expressed happiness about the fact that Nigerians are gradually keying into her policy of domestic tourism which she is religiously committed to.
Mrs Mbanefo in her speech said, “I feel at home any time I come to Ondo State because of the large deposit of tourism potentials and how the government is working round the clock to make them functional for economic benefit of the state.
“Within my short stay in office as the Director General of the NTDC, I have toured more than 26 states and participated in many festivals, but South West particularly Ondo State is the best, the development of tourism particularly the resort is an awesome and amazing experience which makes any visit to the state a memorable one. This resort is another testimony of the transformational work of the state government. The state governor, Dr Mimiko and his entire cabinet deserve commendations for this wonderful work,” Mrs Mbanefo said.
Mrs Mbanefo explained further “Each time I have the opportunity to talk about domestic tourism in the country, I always love to talk about Ondo State, the people are hospitable, the environment is good and they have amazing sites, their festival particularly Mare is one of the best ever initiated in recent time and has been recognised as one of the international festivals that are recognised by the NTDC. I am happy with the level of the local participations and I want to encourage the government not to allow this vision to die as Ondo State is gradually taking a lead as one of the tourism hubs in Africa.”
While pledging her continuous support for the festival, the Director General who also joined the traditional dancers to dance the local beat said “ I will continue to partner with Ondo on Mare and other events that will positively affect the growth of culture and tourism in the state.”
She equally announced the success in her negotiation with Overland Airways to start connecting Akure-Abuja and Akure-Lagos to bring tourists and fun seekers to Idanre and other tourism sites in the state to relax and have memorable experiences.
Gov Mimiko while addressing the crowd at the grand finale said “This is a realisation of our dream to make Ondo State number one tourism destination in Nigeria. I have no doubt in my mind that with the best of our creativity we shall bring Idanre to the global attention and best in the world. I take this opportunity to promise that the next Mare Festival will be bigger and a cultural event of global reckoning.”
He commended the people of Idanre and their traditional rulers for their support in making the building of the resort a dream come true and assured the participants that the coming year will be better as there would be new dimension and introduction of other attractive events into the festival. “By next year, the Atosin Golf Course would have been ready with staff clubs and hotels while more wooden houses would have been erected here for the convenience of our tourists.”
While receiving the award of Brand Domestic Tourism bestowed on him by the Guild of the Tourism Journalists Association of Nigeria, (GTJA), Governor Mimiko said. “We will continue to do the needful to promote domestic tourism in Nigeria having realised that tourism is a veritable tool in promoting our economy and engaging the younger generations.”
President of the GTJ, Comrade Wale Ojo-Lanre in an interactive session with journalists after the presentation of the award said, the recognition is buoyed by the consistency of the governor in the celebration of Mare Festival and other cultural events in the state, “Mare is becoming a festival that will soon be drawing participants from all over the world because of the consistency and the injection of innovative events every year.
“Mr Governor’s effort at creating a tourism hub in Ondo State is acknowledged and we are using this award to appreciate and encourage him not to relent in his bid as we want other governors to emulate him.”
About 40 artists displayed their dexterity in dance, music, songs styles, stunts and forms as the memories of the musical legends like Hubert Ogunde, Orlando Owo, and others were brought to remembrance by some folks who sang exactly like them while, Olo Onibata, Aanu Ekwe, Jay One and other artists thrilled the audience with their music while traditional dancers and musicians also displayed their talents. The music of Rotimi Idanre and Skiddo got the governor to the dancing floor.
Prizes were given to winners of the sporting competitions during the festival as Akinbolade Prince and Ayodeji Folashade emerged winners of the mountain climbing, Akin Bimbola and Oluwafemi Dele won the Marathon (Fast Walk) while Mr Gboye Adegbenro, Constante Asasia, Tunji Ojuolape and Folashade Oni won the gold tournaments at the smoking hills gold course Ilara Mokin as Governor Mimiko and Ambassador Akinboboye were also presented with awards.
With this show of grace at Mare 2014, no one is in doubt that 2015 Mare Festival will be out of the ordinary going by the promise of Governor Mimiko, but it is envisaged that a proper mechanism would be on ground to control the deluge of crowd who will witness next year’s Mare.
For the 2014 Mare Festival was one like never before.
