Brand Elmina, a destination marketing and event organising firm in partnership with the Edina Traditional Council has launched the 2020 Edina Bakatue Homecoming at Buw Enyim in Elmina. The ceremony attracted high ranking dignitaries including Nana Kodjo Conduah VI, Omanhen of Edina Traditional Council, the Central Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority, Mr. Kwame Gyasi among others.
The height of the programme was when the Edinaman anthem was played by violinist, Wilhelm Moses. This sent the entire ground into eerie silence prompting Nana Kodjo Conduah VI to remark, ‘’Indeed, the spirits of Edina is back’’.
He further asked his people to see the festival as their own efforts at selling Elmina to the world. ‘’I urge you to take this festival as your own. Embrace Edina Bakatue. Talk to people about it and also invite them to Edina. Let’s help make it the best festival in the country as was the case some years ago’’.
Mr. Kwame Gyasi, the Central Regional Director of Ghana Tourism Authority urged the people to begin to look for opportunities to make the festival better and also to take full advantage of the celebration. He further urged them to observe the habit of cleanliness as many tourists are turned off with filth that keeps engulfing our coast.
The launch of Edina Bakatue forms part of the first activity in marking the month-long celebration. The launch also afforded the organizer, Brand Elmina and Nananom to make public the programme of activities lined up for the celebration. Among other things, Brand Elmina has introduced new activities to make the celebration more engaging. This year’s celebration will include a fashion show, cooking competition, graffiti painting and street art. There shall also be bike stunts and 16-kilometre marathon.
Speaking at the function, an official of Brand Elmina, Mr. Kofi Owusu Opabene, thanked the Edina Traditional Council for the confidence they have reposed in Brand Elmina to organise the festival. He assured them of his outfits resolve to help bring back the glories of Edina Bakatue.
He, however, urged Nananom to collaborate with Brand Elmina to achieve this target. He disclosed that the motive of Brand Elmina to make this year’s celebration a ‘Homecoming’, was to ensure that indigenes of Elmina who have sojourned to the world to come back to their families in Edina’s ‘Year of Return’. He says his outfit is hoping to ramp up the numbers to the festival as they seek to ‘revive the once enviable festival in Ghana’.
Brand Elmina won the bid to organise this year’s Edina Bakatue following a presentation the company made to the Edina Traditional Council on how to make Edina Bakatue great again. The celebration will take place between the months of June and July 2020.