Polewali International Folk and Art Festival was back again for the second time, held on the 1st - 5th of August 2017 with participating CIOFF countries; Slovakia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and South Korea. The Opening Ceremony was held at H.S. Mengga Stadium Sport Center, audienced by West Sulawesi Governor, Ali Baal Masdar and Vice Regent of Polewali Mandar, Andi Ibrahim Masdar. All of the delegates did a parade around the stadium and had a short performance at a certain spot in front of the VIP tribune. One of Polewali Mandar’s tradition, Sayyang Pattu’du (Dancing Horse) was also performed by the host’s team.






The stages during Polewali International Folk and Art Festival were divided into several venues, which are Tinambung District, Bahari Beach, Wonomulyo, and the main stage at H.S. Mengga Stadium Sport Center. One of the highlights was the street performance at Tinambung District, which received great response from the locals as they started clapping and even singing to the performer’s music. Many of the locals were very interested to watch the performances, one source said that it was a very unique experience to be able to see various dances from various countries participating in the festival, and hopefully the festival would be back next year.



All of the delegates were also invited to mangrove tree-planting and releasing baby sea turtles to the sea, at Mampie Beach. The activity was hoped to raise awareness towards preserving the natural habitat of endangered animals, which in this case was sea turtles. The activity then continued with introduction to Polewali Mandar’s traditional game, Magasing. All of the delegates had fun trying to play as they managed to crack laughters between them. Besides all that, the delegates had their taste buds excited by the taste of Polewali Mandar traditional food. Among the served foods were steamed sweet potato, bau toppa peapi (cooked fish), jepa, sambusa, tumis lureh and penja, etc. Most of the delegates were loving the fish and meat dish because of the exotic cooking method.





Taken from radarsulbar.fajar.id, Indonesian Deputy of Tourism Marketing Development, Mrs. Esthy Reko Astuty, PIFAF would be added to National Tourism Calendar. Mrs. Ethy also shared her hopes for PIFAF to be able to level up their game in the future and arrange something unique to attract more tourists as she saw potential in Polewali Mandar. The Governor of West Sulawesi, Mr. Ali Baal Masdar also share his thoughts regarding PIFAF. “Tourism sector is one of the biggest foreign exchange contributor for Indonesia. Hopefully, PIFAF would open up ways to develop tourism industry through investations”, quoted from antaranews.com.



During the festival, the delegates had to do a workshop to share about their culture and tradition between the participating countries and the young generations of Polewali Mandar. The workshop took place at two public high schools, SMAN 3 Polewali Mandar and SMAN 1 Polewali Mandar. The workshops went very well, and was very interactive. The students were getting involved in learning traditional dances and musics of the participating countries. The workshop was hoped to broaden the perspective of the students and all of the participants, and also raised understanding of how diverse the existing traditions are.

On the last day, the festival committee arrange some interesting activities for the delegates before the closing ceremony, such as, releasing of baby sea turtles at Tanjung Buku beach, making traditional Cassava Chips, and also riding Bentor around Polewali Mandar. By the end of the day, the delegates performed their final performances at the main stage marking the closing of the festival.





The closing of Polewali Mandar International Folk and Art Festival 2017 marked the closing of CIOFF Indonesia’s folk festival season. The festival surely left positive impression towards all parties involved. With all the fun, knowledge, culture, and tradition shared, hopefully the delegates would come back to Polewali Mandar, and also that the festival would be back next year with more improvements.