Hi all, sorry this post is a bit wordy but it does explain a few things so please read to the end!
As most of you know Pete and I actually started Calis Carnival. Our UK home is the Isle of Wight which is the “carnival island” of the UK and back in 2007, (what seems like a lifetime ago), we were strolling down Calis promenade and said it would be a good place to hold a small carnival parade to raise the image of Calis. We ran the idea by Angel at the Nil, who was right behind the plan. The idea grew and we went to see the Mayor of Fethiye who asked us to come back with a business plan. We did and a few months later, we set up a committee and the first Calis Carnival in 2008 was born.
What started out to be just a small parade, snowballed into a week of events culminating on parade day in a free concert and an exhibition. Every one of the thousands who attended seemed to enjoy the Carnival and as a result of this encouragement, we continued to run the carnival for a further two years with the aid of our great hardworking committee.
However, what very few people realize outside of the old Carnival Committee, is that to put on the carnival we and the committee had to raise at least 30,000TL each year from sponsorship and events to pay for the event and its associated expenses. This was before we could even start making any money for the children’s charity.
To raise that amount of money is bl**dy hard work, lots of asking people for small donations, lots of asking businesses for financial support, lots of foot-slogging for many, many months, lots of sleepless nights - and lots of rejections. We had to visit all of the schools to engage them in the parade and painting competition to generate posters to advertise the carnival and despite recognition from FETAV and the Zabita, we received very little support from the bar and restaurant owners in Calis with a few exceptions, notably Angel and Serdar at the Nil, Carole and Guven from Guven’s and Carole and Recip from Bostans who could all see the bigger picture and think “outside the box”. However some did pledge a meal or drinks for our charity Promises Auction which was also “born” out of that first carnival week.
As a means of raising start up funds for the first carnival, we started the Calis Car boot Sales in winter 2007 with the early stall hire fees going to the carnival fund (stall sales going to the children). That same year we also started the Calis Christmas Fair, Spring Fair and auction but these were to raise money for the children. Despite having to raise funds to put the Carnival events on, we still managed to raise approx 25,000 TL for the children that first year.
The last carnival that we organized in 2010 was the biggest and we think the best ever – and as Mercury rightly said we went out on a high. But nobody could see or imagine the work and stress that went on behind the scenes – we will never ever forget sitting in the car boot car park with Mercury and husband Barry at 2.00 am on Carnival Concert day waiting for a non-existent stage to arrive for a 12 hour long concert due to start that afternoon. But we eventually got it sorted and what a great concert it was – thanks to Mercury and Nigel.
That year we decided that enough was enough. We could not better what we had done. The Carnival and our charity work had grown like Topsy and for the carnival to continue to evolve and improve; we needed far more Turkish involvement as they have the contacts and influence over businesses. After much deliberation our committee decided that the time had arrived to dissolve the existing committee and split the responsibilities with the Calis Association who had the ear of the council. We had done all that we could, the groundwork was done and the foundations laid. It was agreed that the Calis Association would take over responsibility of organizing the parade day and concert. We as the new Calis Children’s Charity committee said that we would continue to hold all of the other events of carnival week e.g. the Spring Fair, Promises Auction and “another fundraising” evening.
This year, it would seem that there is unlikely to be a Calis Carnival parade and evening concert.
However we, the 3C’s, will still be holding all of the other carnival fundraising events – whether or not there is a parade or concert on the final day. We are holding a massive “Chill Out Calis” Beach Party and BBQ with lots of live entertainment at Guven’s on Tuesday 21 May. Our Spring Fair will take place on Sunday 26 May and our annual charity Promises Auction will take place on Calis seafront on Wednesday 29 May.
In addition there will be the FETAV Fest launch party concert (ticket only) at Calis Aqua Park on Friday 17 May and as already mentioned by others the FETAV Fest events will be taking place also in Fethiye, Uzumlu, Kemer and Olu Deniz from 17-24 May so there is lots going on for anyone out on holiday then.
Obviously we are sad that Calis Carnival parade and concert is unlike to happen this year, as after all it is our baby and we are emotionally involved in it. But now our energy is involved with the 3C’s fundraising for children within the Fethiye area.
We will e-mail Mete again to see if there have been any developments regarding plans for the carnival and to raise his awareness of people’s concerns. We will also refer him to this topic on CBF so that he can see for himself how disappointed people are, particularly those who have booked their holidays around these dates.
Hope to see as many of you as possible at our coming events
Pete and Chrissie
