Bringing the culture of food stalls and shops of kurti and old-fashioned curtains up a notch, Midsummer’s Night market at VR Bengaluru, Whitefield was a novel initiative in this sphere.
From architecture miniatures, fire poi performances to extended 3D paintings, the carnival consisted of a variety of food products, handicrafts, textiles and more. “This was a unique festival. I would rather call it a celebration of art, talent and food. We have home decor, garden accessories, wall art, food, snacks and clothes in this market, but everything has its own uniqueness,” Neha Khemka, organiser of the event, said.
Most stalls were set up by housewives-turned-entrepreneurs. Fiammetta Maggio Pereira, a Chennai-based Italian woman who had put up a stall at the carnival for her cotton and linen textile brand, said an initiative like Midsummer’s Night market is a need-of-the-hour in the society. “Women in India are the backbone of every family. Events such as this give a huge support to them. A large chunk of my employees working at Bottega Pereira are women. Being a part of this event, we look forward to reaching out to more people,” said Pereira, who is also a mother-turned-entrepreneur.
Deepika Mittal and her daughter Sakshi Mittalwere excited to showcase their extended 3D paintings for the first time. Expressing their happiness that they got the right platform to begin with, she added, “We have come up with a novel concept. Since this market is all about uniqueness and out-of-the-box thinking, we got a tremendous response for our brand.”
The two-day event received appreciation from the audience. Almost 40,000 people visited the event. Street food, tambola, live performance with fire poi balls, tarot cards, organic snacks for children by mumum co., a start-up, demonstration of different types of garden setups, organic perfumes, wildlife photo exhibition and T-shirts with children’s paintings were some of the highlights of the event.
Deepak Jahan, an Indiranagar resident who attended the event with his family, said, “The ambience here is exactly like that of a carnival but not the one we usually find in other places. This has got some unique products, concepts and really beautiful art works. Our favourite was the wildlife photography exhibition, which showcased Bengal tigers.”
Midsummer’s Night market was a part of VR Bengaluru’s third-anniversary celebration.