South African Braai and Potjie Fest in Richmond

08/05/2024

| By AfriForum Wêreldwyd

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Hello, Jaco! It is so nice chatting with you. The South African Braai and Potjie Fest happened on 19–21 April 2024. Please tell us more.

We had 500 people at the Fest last year, which made it the largest gathering of South Africans in the USA. My aim was to break this record; so, I set myself a goal of attracting between 550 and 650 people to this year’s Fest. I am excited to say that 600 people attended this year’s Braai and Potjie Fest! The plan is to attract 700 people in 2025, which I think is quite achievable. We will have to focus more on marketing, there were people who said they were not aware of the festival.

How many potjies entered this year’s competition? Who were the winners?

We had 32 potjie entries. Some of the potjies were oxtail, seafood, lamb neck, whole lamb shoulder, sparerib, beef, and chicken. We even had a malva pudding potjie!

I made two number 20 potjies, which I could not enter, for obvious reasons. One was a lamb tomato stew (bredie); the other a curry chicken potjie.

And the winner is …

The winner was Fanie Kalp, who made an oxtail potjie.

In second place were Jessica en Cobus Pienaar, who made veal and beef potjie.

In the third place was Mark Kiddie (2023’s winner), who made an oxtail potjie.

What other activities were there at the festival?

Everyone arrived on Friday, got to know one another better and networked a little. We also had a braai for everyone that evening. This year we had Fatman to entertain us the Friday evening, while everyone sokkie’ed and had a good time chatting to one another.

We had boeresport on Saturday: bag races, three-leg races, and tug of war, to name a few. And then the big potjie competition started at noon. After the winners of the competition was announced, Die Campbells gave a performance, while everyone took to the dance floor to sokkie.

We had 14 vendors that attendees supported on Friday and Saturday. Vendors varied from typical South African food like vetkoek, samosas, boerewors rolls, bunny chows, pies to homemade jewellery, pottery, and other South African goodies.

On Sunday we closed the Fest in the proper way with a church service.

Why do you host the Braai and Potjie Fest?

The Fest was first held in 2019 to make the people on the East Coast feel like they are home among their people. However, the Fest grew and people from across the USA now attend the Fest. People come from far and wide – even from Canada and London. This year a couple travelled 2 054 miles from Seattle to attend the Fest.

The largest sokkie in the USA was held on 27 April in Atlanta. Tell us more about the sokkie and the artists who performed.

The Atlanta Opskop was something new that we hosted for the first time this year. Atlanta has a large South African community and thought it would be a good starting point. It was a one-night-only show where people could show off their dancing skills.

The artists were Fatman and Die Campbells, and about 180 people attended the Atlanta Opskop. It was a huge success and will now become an annual event, with the possibility of adding more states.

You have already started planning for next year’s Braai and Potjie Fest. What can people look forward to in 2025?

We are busy negotiating with two top artists from South Africa. We hope to know by the end of May if our endeavours were successful.

Die Campbells are an annual institution, and they will be back next year.

Apart from the fantastic entertainment that people can look forward to, we have already received applications from new vendors who want to sell their products at the Fest.

There are a few surprises, but we will not be letting the cat out of the bag just yet.

We would like to thank our sponsors, as well as everyone who attended the Fest and the Opskop. Your presence added to the success of these events.