4 Events to Pen into your Diary for 2025
Following some truly exciting events that recently took place, we’d like to highlight a few that we believe are worth penning into your diaries well in advance for 2025.
Knysna Oyster Festival
If you have the means to stay in Knysna for a couple of days come next year’s Knysna Oyster Festival, we can highly recommend it.
This year’s festival was filled to the brim with excitement. Of course, if you love oysters, even more so. We explored Knysna and its surrounds with curiosity, enjoying the pulpable enthusiasm as locals and visitors went from sporting events to tastings. It was the most successful event since the Covid pandemic, with over 100 events and the coastal town lured young and old to partake in numerous activities.
The Forest Marathon – the biggest event of this year’s Knysna Oyster Festival – had 6500 registered participants. In addition, The Cycle Tour boasted a turnout of 1500 cyclists.
Throughout the ten days of the festival, visitors (including us) enjoyed local crafts, delicious cuisine in the Oyster Alley, the Oyster Shed with its small local businesses and more.
Aubrey Tsengwa, Knysna Executive Mayor, says: “The Knysna Oyster Festival has once again proven to be a highlight on our town’s calendar.” And, we couldn’t agree more.
From oysters and bubbly at the popular Turbine Boutique Hotel & Spa, a Fine Wine Festival at Simola Hotel Country Club & Spa, a sunset cruise and gin tasting among the Knysna Heads with Osean Sailing Charters and Six Dogs – we honestly could not have asked for more.
Not to mention rugby in a tent on Knysna High School’s sports field, with Ard Matthews from the famed Just Ginger taking to the stage, entertaining the crowds. Dinner at Sirocco was also a must, while the fish and chips at the waterfront-based L’Opera also comes highly recommended. Also, if you’ve never seen a community pull together, the Dragon Boat Racing with various teams from the community – from lifesavers to company teams – proved to be an impressive team building exercise in addition to being exciting to watch.
We stayed at the ideally located Crown on the Heads. Removed from the hustle and bustle of the festival, it was the perfect escape at night, complete with the most spectacular views over breakfast.
Be sure to pen it into your diary for next year: 4 – 13 July 2025.
Spar Women’s Challenge Tshwane
Having attended the SPAR Women’s Challenge Tshwane, hosted on 3 August this year, for the very first time, we now understand what the hype is all about. We went all out and joined the sea of peach, participating in the 10km run. So, you can trust us when we say: This event is worth adding to your diaries for next year.
Forming part of the SPAR Grand Prix series, this year’s SPAR Women’s Challenge Tshwane drew 15 000 women to the starting line! The SPAR Grand Prix series is one of Africa’s most popular and richest women’s road running series and clearly, it continues to grow.
Ralph Rajagopaul, SPAR North Rand Marketing Executive, says: “The Women’s Challenge is more than just a race; it’s a platform to bring women together, raise awareness about important issues, and create lasting change.”
Even Olympic gold medallist, Caster Semenya, finished her very first competitive 10km race in 10th place at SuperSport Park during the event.
The race celebrates women’s athleticism and it’s a wonderful platform for giving back. This year, R400 000 was raised for the MEN-struation Foundation in collaboration with Jacaranda FM’s Good Morning Angel initiative. Another R10 000 was donated to the Hanna Charity and Empowerment Foundation, and Miss Teen Finalist, Rebantle Ndlovu received R5000 for her sanitary pad initiative.
Next year’s SPAR Women’s Challenge Tshwane will be taking place on 2 August 2025.
Wine Town Stellenbosch
The historic town of Stellenbosch came alive with an impressive program of events again this year, with Wine Town Stellenbosch taking place between 29 July and 4 August. If you love food and wine, this is a must for your 2025 calendar. Featuring the country’s top wine estates and wines, as well as delectable cuisine, it’s a no-brainer. In fact, this year saw some 60 of the country’s best producers present over 200 wines for tasting. These were served alongside a traditional harvest table of delicious snacks, curated by well-known local chef, Bertus Basson and his restaurant group, led by Chef Adele Grewar.
Elmarie Rabe, Stellenbosch Wine Routes’ manager confirmed that Wine Town Stellenbosch is certainly the best showcase of what the Stellenbosch region is all about. “With experiences on farms and in town, it really gives a 360 view that is the sense of place reflected in our wines.”
As part of Wine Town Stellenbosch, one of the most exciting events is the Stellenbosch Wine Festival, which has been going for over half a century.
Between happy hours in Stellies, multi-course food and wine showstoppers, extra special restaurant and accommodation deals and other outstanding food and wine occasions, it’s the place to be if you’re a wine afficionado like us.
While there is no set date for 2025 yet, keep an eye out for it on their Instagram feed as it’s definitely an event not to be missed.
Decorex
Decorex Joburg once again pulled out all the stops this year. From stunning premium clay tiles by Klay to impressive designs by names like Tristan du Plessis, it was all there. Not to mention impressive talks, and bubbly and wine bars for those keen on a tipple.
We were once again pleasantly surprised by the immense amount of creativity that goes into each and every product and brand at Decorex. That included the collaboration between renowned artist, Lulama Wolf and the luxury brand, Bang & Olufsen. The collab marked Wolf as the first black female South African artist in the world to contribute to the Bang & Olufsen’s esteemed ‘Art of A9’ initiative.
Whether you are looking to renovate your home in the coming year, or whether you’re planning to invest in some art pieces for your corporate office, it’s all there. The bonus: You get to engage with the people behind the brand!
Pen the dates down for next year’s various Decorex events:
Decorex Cape Town will take place at the CTICC between 5 and 8 June 2025. Decorex Joburg will return to the Sandton Convention Centre from 31 July to 3 August 2025. And, 100% Design Africa will coincide with Decorex Joburg at the same venue.
