GILGIT: A festival was held in Gulmit, Hunza, to celebrate spring and promote tourism in the region, featuring dance performances by elders in local attire, which attracted hundreds of tourists, including foreigners.

The event was organised by local village organisations in collaboration with the GB agriculture department.

A large number of local people, including students, people affiliated withthe tourismindustry, andnational and internationaltourists, besides officials, participated in the event.

Locals wearing traditional attire danced to regional music, and artists performed and presented their poetry. School-going children also presented performances.

According to the organisers, the event was dedicated to above-70 elders,and they were invited to celebrate the day. They said the apricot, cherry and almond blossom season was currently at its peak in the area, which made the celebrations more attractive. They said the event would highlight the tourism potential of the area for all seasons.

A woman entrepreneur said such events benefitted the local economy by promoting their products. A Japanese woman tourist said a group of 35 Japanese tourists were participating in the event. She said it was an interesting event to participate in, especially during the apricot and cherry blossom season.

Ijlal Hussain, an officer of the GB agriculture department, said the eventhad been aregularfeature of Gulmit village in upper Hunza for the past many years to celebrate the arrival of the spring season. He saidin old times people celebrated the `Bofao festival` to welcome the spring season and start their agricultural activities.

`We had visited Japan some years ago and participated in their spring festival...it was an interesting experience, so we tried to copy the initiative here, he said.

He said it was a vibrant celebration of the blooming of flowers, especially cherry, apricot and almond blossoms, adding that it was commonly observed in regions with distinct spring seasons, such as Hunza in Pakistan, Japan, and parts of the United States.

The blossom festival in Gulmit, however, remains one of the top celebrations of the season, as more than 300 foreign tourists enjoyed the event besides the Pakistani nationals and locals.-Jamil Nagri