The two-day Pahalgam Winter Carnival concluded with much fanfare witnessing the participation of hundreds of locals and tourists in various colourful activities and cultural programmes.The Pahalgam market wore a festive look where tourists enjoyed Tonga rides, horse rides while the locals street artists also enthralled the onlookers with various traditional folk and cultural shows.Various snow sports activities including snowshoeing, mountain biking were also held in which athletes from various districts participated enthusiastically.The main functions were organised at Pahalgam Club where the artists drawn from various parts of the Valley throughout the two days demonstrated their skills live in Calligraphy, Painting, Pottery, needle art, singing etc.Some of the notable artists like Saima Shafi known as Kral Koor did a live demonstration of pottery, Shafiya Shafi painted Shikara Boat besides soulful performances from Rabab Players and singers kept the audience glued to these events.In the evening, the cultural and musical concert and scintillating performances by famous singers like Waqar Khan, Noor Muhammad, Shazia Bashir, Abid Ali, Adil Manzoor, Shugufta and their groups, Fusion music by Irfan Bilal, besides comedians like Anil Chingari and other artists captivated the jam-packed audience with some popular numbers and acting skills.A quiz competition about Pahalgam during the evening event was also held which also generated a lot of response from the audience.Anchors and comperes also kept the audience glued through their skilful conduct of the programme.
About 40 stalls displaying traditional art, craft, ethnic cuisine, street food, etc had been set up at the Club by various departments including Tourism, JKTDC, Handicrafts, Forest, Fisheries, Horticulture, Floriculture, Industries, Agriculture Departments, J&K Women's Development Corporation, Handicraft Department's School of Design, Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering, Adventure Tour Operators of Pahalgam and other Private Entrepreneurs to showcase their unique products.While expressing satisfaction over the successful conduct of the event, Director Tourism Kashmir Dr. GN Itoo said the Carnival received a huge response and created a lot of buzz about the tourism activities in Kashmir.He said the main aim of the event was to promote Pahalgam as a winter destination and invite tourists from across the country to the Valley for holidays. “This event has been a part of our series of promotional programmes to revive the tourism sector which had been adversely affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to promote the popular resort for the winter season also. With the successful conduct of the event, a positive message has got across the country that Kashmir is abuzz with activities and travellers can come and enjoy their holidays,” he said.Deputy Commissioner Anantnag Anshul Garg also attended the function in the evening and highlighted the tourism potential of the Pahalgam.
Later, cash prizes, mementos and certificates were also distributed among innovative artists jointly Sponsored by Tourism and Delhi Public School, Athwajan Srinagar.Rs 10,000 as first prize was given each to five artists for their best artworks. CEO Pahalgam, Mushtaq Ahmad Simnani, Joint Director Tourism, Tabassum Kamili, SDM Pahalgam, Naseer Ahmad, Deputy Director Tourism Publicity Ideel Saleem, Deputy Director, Registration, Ahsan-ul-haq Chishti, Assistant Director Pahalgam Bilal Ahmad, were also present during the 2-day Carnival.The 2-day Pahalgam Winter Carnival was organised by the Directorate of Tourism Kashmir in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation, Pahalgam Development Authority, District Administration Anantnag, Pahalgam Hotel & Restaurant Owners Association and Pahalgam Hotel & Guest House Owners Society.