As the New Year kicked off, Soul Fest 2020 shot to the top of the music-cum-food festivals that are becoming a trend across the country. It came up as the inaugural yet biggest music and food festival of the year in Karachi. It is one of the festivals that provide top musicians and brands with a platform to come together in one place and it is one experience that you cannot afford to miss.
Even though everything about Soul Fest was special, there were 5 activities that stood apart from the rest and brought a different kind of energy making it more memorable for the crowd.
- Ariel transparent washing machine challenge!
When it comes to a Food festival, washing machines and detergents are the last thing that will come to your mind. But this year, Ariel, one of the leading detergent brands in Pakistan, changed the game by introducing the first of its kind #RagraVSNewArielTagra challenge. They did this by placing two transparent washing machines and allowing the participant to fully stain two yellow t-shirts at their innovative staining booth, and let me tell you, the crowd did not hold back! The Ariel stall at soul fest was the centre of everyone’s attention!
Once the shirts were completely stained, they were washed separately with two different detergents (one being Ariel of course). The transparent washing machines alone were intriguing enough, but people were more excited to see who won this Ragra Vs Tagra battle.
To everybody’s surprise, the shirts cleaned with Ariel came out absolutely stain-free whereas the ones cleaned with the other detergent looked nothing close to the original piece. What made it so shocking and intriguing was the fact this was all done live, and there was no ad being played. They actually lived up to the promises they were making! After all seeing is believing!
- The ultimate spicy TNT nugget challenge!
When you’re providing food at a festival like Soul Fest, it is hard to stand out. However, TNT Foods was able to do just that by coming up with one fiery challenge (literally). They introduced a challenge where the participants had to eat their spicy nuggets and not eat or drink anything for the next 3 minutes. If you were able to do that, you would not have to pay anything. The food was on the house. Considering the price was 500 per plate, the challenge can be best described through the words of Thanos “A small price to pay for Salvation”. However, salvation was something that might have been preferred by some because not everyone was able to hold it, and some gave in instantly. The participant’s reactions and this challenge certainly created an excitement filled atmosphere.
- Yoshi’s-
Pakistani foodies are also excited about trying new cuisines and Yoshi’s offered just that. Bringing the flavours of Japan to the festival, the eatery was definitely something unique and intriguing. People at food festivals, always lookout for something different and unique to eat, the fact that stalls were well maintained and the live cocking made the whole experience worthwhile.
- Crowd management and affordability
People always look for pocket friendly places to eat when they have two or more options in mind! And this is how people make it to different places even with a small budget. Soul fest tickets were very reasonable and more importantly the ticket management system was very well organized. People got discounts on tickers through scanning QR codes. The security made sure that nothing went wrong and washrooms were well maintained. This is a huge improvement in the local food festival dynamic. To have an event so well-managed is a success on its own. We hope to see more food festivals follow their lead in the future.
- Strings – Live
Friends, family, good food, winter nights and to top it up the concert made everyone groovy! With performances by Kashmir, Farhan Saeed and the legendary Strings, the mood was set for Karachiites. People came in with their families and friends, took pictures, made videos and more importantly created lasting memories! Winter is almost about to end, and soul fest proved to be the last big festival for the season!
