WITH a day to go before the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown kicks off, organisers say a number of shows are already sold out and visitors who have not booked will be hard-pressed to find accommodation.

Based on interest shown and shows booked, organisers expect a bigger turnout this year than last year.

National Arts Festival chief executive Tony Lankester said all systems were in place to ensure the festival ran smoothly, including an increase in police presence and security.

“We work well with municipal agencies, like the traffic cops and police, as well as security guards, to ensure there is more than enough security presence all over Grahamstown during the festival.

“Extra police officers will be brought in to Grahamstown and they will set up mobile stations. The security guards will be mainly stationed at box offices.”

Lankester said the turnout for the festival was already looking stronger compared to last year.

“A healthy number of shows have already been sold out, so I can say that we are quietly confident.”

Some of the more popular shows, like the Freshly Ground musical performance and Art Walkabouts, were already fully booked, while tickets to performances by British comedian Jimeoin and the Parlotones were almost sold out.

Lankester said the number of fringe shows had been increased this year by about 30, and the festival had been given a “facelift” by changing its logos and signs.

Another major change was that the Village Green would be moved to the Rhodes Great Fields and would no longer be in town.

“We‘ve given it space to breathe because there will be a lot more stalls. We‘ve also added a kids‘ play area.”

People still looking to spend a night in Grahamstown would be hard- pressed to find accommodation, especially for the first weekend, as most places were about 95% full, Lankester said. The festival organisers were not responsible for all the accommodation during the 10-day event, as there were individual residents who offered accommodation. However, he warned that these venues were nearly full.

Director of the conference office Dr Iain L‘Ange said: “We provide about 2500 beds per night for the duration of the festival. It‘s much like running 30 to 40 hotels. And this cluster of ‘hotels‘ has to emerge spick and span almost overnight from the spaces left behind by vacationing Rhodes students. The numbers, not to mention the logistics, are enough to make a less confident logistics team run for cover.”

L‘Ange added that well over 2000 beds had already been booked for the festival and the numbers were growing by the day.

“Despite the economic downturn people are still phoning and booking. It‘s going extremely well.”