Gov. Mimiko to declare Mare Festival Open Today

 Gov,Mimiko to declare Mare Festival Open  Today

Ondo state governor Olusegun Mimiko w the will today declared open year 2012 Mare Festival in Idanre.

The festival, which started in 2009 features Cultural and traditional heritage of
the people with the sports-inclined mountaineering.

The festival, last year drew participants from across Nigeria, South Africa and Europe.
A native boy, Sunday Akinwumi who came first in the mountain climbing competition
won scholarship, prizes and trips abroad sponsored by the state government.
Meanwhile the  Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Deji Falae in an interaction with journalists In Akure recently  disclosed  the plans to make tourism one of the fastest growing sectors in the state..
The Commissioner who said the government would soon embark on development of all tourists’ centres to boost the economy of the state, stated that the festival will take place from 13th to 15th December, even as he listed some activities lined up for the event to include art exhibition, mountain climbing, marathon race, musical concert, cultural display, raffle draw among others.

The commissioner said about 50 local and international mountain climbers are billed to take part in this year edition, saying that $5,000, $4,000 and $3,000 will be awarded to the winner, runner up and second runners up respectively.
He said “The Mare Festival is a symbol of the collective characteristics of Ondo State,as it represents the resilience, sportsmanship, daring, heartedness, adventurousness, hardwork, responsibility, reliability, doggedness, solidity, uncanny ability of the state and people to survive against any odds.
Tourism is one of the fastest growing of the economic sectors and the highest revenue earner from the non oil sector, most especially when the world economy is currently experiencing meltdown.
Idanre hills represent a reference point for Yoruba civilisation which has not been threatened by western culture and urbanization and remain a living heritage typified by festivals. This site constitutes a common heritage that needs to be treasured as a unique testimony of an unending past.
There is no gain saying that the Mare festival is good enough to project the state and reposition it amongst the committee of tourist destinations in the world if properly managed and efficiently run as we have already planned.”
It would be recalled that the grand finale of the last edition climaxed with the mountain climbing race, which is a major attraction of the festival.
The race atop the over 3, 000 feet above the sea level hill, was supervised by a duo of professional mountaineers from Spain and South Africa. At the blast of the whistle, a galaxy of mountaineers both foreign and local, took to the craggy mountain displaying their skills to the delight of the crowd.

The commissioner for information, Mr Kayode Akinmade also  told journalists that the event  is being packaged to boos tourism in Ondo state , according to him, " we are branding Ondo state  and  tourism development  is on top of our agenda, the state has a lot of tourism potentials and  his execllency is committed to developed all to a world standard  tourists  site that will attract  people  from all walks of life to the state thereby  increasing the chances of encouraging foreign investors and boos commercial activities in the state."