The Kanchenjunga Tourism Festival will return from September 25 to 27 with its largest multi-location format yet, bringing heritage walks, cycling, football, cultural performances and tourism exhibitions to Siliguri, Darjeeling and Sonada in north Bengal.
The 24th edition is being organised by the Association for Conservation & Tourism (ACT) and will be inaugurated at City Centre in Siliguri on Friday. Raj Basu, convener of ACT, said this is the first time the festival will be held at three locations.
Cultural performances will take place at Siliguri’s City Centre every day from 11am to 8pm. Folk artistes from Nepal, Manipur, Sikkim and other parts of the region are scheduled to perform. Around 40 stalls will showcase local handicrafts, tourism destinations and regional cuisine, linking the festival’s public programme with small producers and tourism businesses.
The opening day will begin with ‘Paddle with DHR’, a cycling event involving around 100 participants. The cyclists will ride alongside the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway’s century-old toy train on its route from Siliguri Junction to Rongtong station. The event places one of the region’s most recognisable railway assets at the centre of a public tourism programme.
An exhibition football match will later be held at a playground in Sukna, on the outskirts of Siliguri. Former East Bengal players and players from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration will take part. ACT said the match will be organised as a fundraising initiative for victims of the recent disaster in Nepal.
On Saturday, participants will join the ‘Quins Trail’, a heritage walk through Darjeeling town. Starting at Chowrasta, also known as the Mall, the walk will cover several heritage sites before ending at Darjeeling railway station. The route connects a central public space with the town’s historic buildings, streets and railway infrastructure, although the organisers have not announced the complete list of sites included in the walk.
A seminar on homestays and rural tourism will also be held at Salesian College in Sonada. Tourism experts and other dignitaries are expected to participate in the discussion. The programme extends the festival beyond visitor attractions to the accommodation and community-based tourism models that support travel in the hills.
The festival will conclude at a private banquet hall in Sukna. Seven women working in tourism promotion and nature conservation will be honoured for their contributions, Basu said. The organisers have not provided an estimate of total visitor numbers or detailed arrangements for traffic management and access between the three festival locations.
With activities spread across Siliguri, Darjeeling and Sonada, the programme will use city-centre venues, a playground, a college campus, a heritage route and railway stations as part of a single tourism calendar. The festival’s public events will continue until the concluding ceremony in Sukna on September 27.
