How To Organize A Better Feok Festival - My Thoughts

Feok festival is a big (if not the biggest) event on the Bulsa calendar and should, therefore, be well organized. These may help organizers to plan better.

• The festival should be well publicized on all popular media stations such as Joy FM, Citi FM, Uniiq FM, TV3, TV Africa, GTV, etc.and also online. This will get people well-informed ahead of time so they can plan for it.

• Sponsors for the Feok activities should be sought in time and actively involved in its planning. More than one sponsor should be sought to avoid monopoly. There should also be transparency in how resources for the Feok activities are utilized to encourage an all-inclusive participation.

• All mini-Feok celebrations should be celebrated before the grand Feok festival. These may be able to whip up peoples interest in the main event. Practices whereby we always have to celebrate Wiaga feok, Gbedema feok, and the like after the main Feok festival has been celebrated should be banned. They sound divisive to me. Dates should be fixed for all communities with intentions to celebrate to do so ahead of the main event.

• There should be something special to do with the "Acham" shrine during the Feok season. That may further tell the story of how Feok and war dance came about. People who wish to visit the shrine should have a day to do so.

• Some programs should be lined up to entertain visitors who come to witness the festival before the D-day. Every day must have some activity connected to the festival, the mini celebrations included. After all, it is the Feok season.

• We should incorporate fund-raising into the Feok activities. Projects should be earmarked for execution with the money raised.

• There should be a showcase of the various armor and artifacts we use in the Feok war dance in our museum. The history behind every item should be clearly written down and told to patrons of the museum on any day. 

• The festival should be an all-inclusive one with all the various towns and villages taking part in the war dance in groups. Sandema should be one group. Wiaga should be another. Chuchuliga, Fumbisi, Bachongsa and all the other areas should present groups to partake in the war dance. The planning of Feok should include representatives from other areas as well.

• Local food and drinks should be well packaged and served to visitors to make them have a feel of our local items. Smocks should be worn during all Feok activities.

• The venue for the grand durbar should be moved to a bigger ground such as the Sports stadium after all the points above have been well executed.