Expo WP is the largest indoor tourist, craft and traders market in the Western Cape and this past Tuesday night, launched its first real night market since it's inception at Easter, hosting a turnout of close to 10 000 people. This enormous turnout was the consequence of
radio advertising, promoting "
The Drift Squad" as well as "
Show Cars" fitted with impressive
audio systems, some with impressive
air brushed spray jobs and some with impressive
engine modifications. Alongside these beauties, inside the micro expo hall, there were some
super-bikes and a whole fleet of
supped-up cars, featuring
mag wheels, tail-fins, scoops, interior trim and amazing
tattoo-like murals as well as
lowered suspensions, tinted windows and race pedals and gear shift. It was very evident that the micro hall could not accommodate all the
show cars and many of them lined-up outside under the floodlights in the parking area.
Inside the macro hall virtually every expo vendor was dressed in
soccer fan gear, each in the colours of their favoured team. Each of the 250 stalls also had a flag attached to a post at its entrance which waved in the breeze blowing through the corridors, making for a very colourful sight.
Vuvuselas, leg warmers, sleeve covers and car mirror covers in the colours of the
South African Flag were seen all over. People were buying them, vendors were selling them, others were wearing them and it just seemed that everyone had them. Every vendors were retailing these products at give away prices in order to boost the
Soccer World Cup excitement. Everyone leaving the Expo WP premises looked like they were already ready for the
Soccer World Cup.
The 100's of
motor cycles and its owners in their leather
riding gear looked very impressive with quite a few of them revving their
bike's engines competing in sound with the revving engines the of drifting cars. This all happened in an arena set aside, especially constructed with
tyres surrounding its circumference for the purpose of drifting. Ten
cars were drifting all of which attracted enormous attention, but there was a female driver who wowed the audience with her antics. Cell phone flashlights were triggering all over and many even captured the performing cars on cell phone video. The smell of the cars fumes, the burning
tyres, the
boerewors rolls, the smell of
tikka chicken and cigarette smoke was more than enough to make you high, but for many this wasn't enough and lined up at the pub come art gallery to get at the beers and hard liquor.
There was hardly any space to move about, the main hall aisles, the minor halls, the
food-court and the parking area were filled with people resulting in a line of people at the entrance snaking around the side of the building. Consequently people were only allowed entry when an equivalent amount of people left the premises. Outside in the street there was major traffic congestion with
cars parked in every conceivable parking space. Inside the spit level hall, there was a
scaletrix display and a
Zumba demonstration which lasted until the early hours of the morning. Expo WP is all about soccer and there are indoor soccer tournaments every weekend. There are curios and gifts for
tourists to take home ranging from stone and wood carvings of the big five to life size
African warriors. Tonight was just a sampling of what can be expected at the
Soccer World Cup in the days to come.
Viva Bafana Bafana!
