This event, which will carry on until the 3rd of October is organized by the prefecture of Laayoune-boujdour-SakiaEL Hamra with the cooperation of the agency for the economic and social promotion of the southern provinces , synergy association of Sakia El Hamra, and the heirs of the French pilot writer Antoine de Saint- exupery.
The organizers are ambitious to give Tarfaya formally called cap juby a cultural and artistic international dimension.
The opening ceremony of this festival of Tarfaya, which took place with the presence of an official delegation composed of the governor in charge of the general secretariat of the prefecture of Laayoune-boujdour-SakiaEl Hamra, MR Hamid Charii, and several elected and local officials, was marked by the inauguration of an exhibition of pictures retracing the memory and history of tarfaya, a town rich of its historic monuments and its natural and tourist assets.
The opening of this festival was equally marked by the inauguration of an exhibition of local handicraft products, gathering traditional clothes, carpets, wooden objects utensil materials, and other tools which are fundamental in the life of people of the south, as well as forms of interior design which reflect the wealth of ways and customs of the local handicraft.
Traditional sahraoui tents which reflect different facets of the real-life of local population, are stood in this occasion next to the historical monuments of Tarfaya, whose the old fortress of Casamar, and the stele of “Saint Exupery”.
The first day of this cultural and artistic event has been marqued by the inauguration of an exhibition of photographs immortalising an unforgettable moments of the glorious green march, as well as a selection of photos reminding the visit of late Hassan II to Tarfaya in 1956.
A stall of the agency for the promotion and economic and social development of the southern provinces opened in this occasion, presenting different programs, and projects for the agency in order to promote local development, and help creating jobs.
The official delegation visited the museum of Antoine de saint-exupery, which opened its doors in 2004 at Tarfaya, gathering documents , models and other objects which retrace the history of airmail, and the adventure of the first men and pioneers of the civil aviation such as Mermoz, Guillaumet and saint –exupery.
The program off the festival foresees a ceremony to pay tribute to the writer pilot Saint-Exupery who was 80 years ago chairman of Tarfaya’s airfield, a legendary site for the pioneers of the airfield.
The town of Tarfaya intends to commemorate through this festival the 80th anniversary of the creation of the airmail line linking the French town of Toulouse to South America, via tarfaya, formally called Cap juby and dakhla, as mentioned by the organizers.
This edition will be marqued by the participation of Moroccan philharmonic orchestra
directed by Farid Bensaid, and the arrival of air rally Toulouse-Tarfaya- Saint-Louis of Senegal, in addition to several other artistic, cultural, sportive, tourist, and social activities.
The initiators of this festival are expecting that the latter will insufflate tourist dynamism at Tarfaya, a city rich of its patrimony and its potentialities.
Source : MAP
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