Himalayan News Service

Pokhara, April 11:

The Phewa Beach lakeside New Year festival has started at Basundhara Park, to mark the beginning of the Nepali New Year on April 13. The festival has been organised to generate funds for the construction of an artificial beach covering an area of 18,000 feet in the western part of Basundhara Park, Mahesh Bhattarai, chief of the Phewa Beach and Environment Conservation Committee (PBECC) informed.Jana Kabi Keshari Dharma Raj Thapa inaugurated the function with a religious song.

There are more than one and half dozens of stalls of food, entertainment and information. The attractions of the festival are basketball, horse riding and archery targeted at youths. The organisers have selected swings, merry-go-round, boating and jumping station for the children. The attraction of first day is Balan competition between nine teams, Bhattarai added. The Dohori Competition will be held in the afternoons of the second and the third day of the festival.

In the evenings, artists including Prakash Ojha, Sanjeev Singh, Dipesh Kishore Bhattarai, Nalina Chitrakar, James Pradhan, Bijaya Gurung, Little Star Band and famous local bands would perform in the live concerts. The PBECC chief Bhattarai estimated collection of one million rupees from the festival.