Promoting Cultural Arts Through Lake Poso Festival

JAKARTA, Nov 4 (Antara) - Held from November 2 to 5, 2016, the much awaited Lake Poso Festival at the outskirt of scenic Tentena city is designed to give visitors an insight into Central Sulawesi's cultural arts and tourism wealth. The ongoing Lake Poso Festival aims to promote and maintain Central Sulawesi's rich culture that has been passed from generation to generation. In his opening speech, Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola remarked that Lake Poso Festival will help float the potential of art and culture, as well as the wealth of tourism in the province, especially the district of Poso. Various art and cultural attractions have been prepared to enliven the festival and entertain the visitors and tourists from many countries. Although the impact of modernization brings daily change, much of the inherited social structure, arts and culture in Central Sulawesi have remained unchanged. During the Lake Poso Festival, various cultural arts will be performed for the visitors and tourists to glimpse the many visual and performing arts of the tribal community. Annually held as the national tourism event for 19 consecutive years, Lake Poso Festival is intended to support the government program in tourism sector, and to preserve local cultural values in a bid to enrich the national cultural treasures. Lake Poso Festival is to improve and preserve the cultural values of Central Sulawesi ethnic communities, to introduce the local cultural potentials to international community, to encourage the development of tourism objects in in the province, and to promote investment opportunity in tourism sector. More than that, the specific objective of the festival is to make Tentena city and Poso district reliable national and international tourist destination, and therefore, the cultural values should be packaged in such away as to be sold to both domestic and foreign tourists. The festival; enlivened by a series of activities such as tourism ambassadors election, art and culture attraction, folk pop competition, and traditional sports for the visitors to enjoy; takes place at the side of Lake Poso. It also exhibits a wide range of competitions, such as dance performances and traditional clothing from various tribes in Central Sulawesi, race track area, the selection of the daughter of Lake Poso, decorative boat races, rowing boat, tug on the boat, as well as various culinary delights. Known as the third largest in Indonesia, Lake Poso is located at an altitude of 657 meters above sea level, that stretches from north to south along the 32 km wide and 16 km, with a depth of about 360 meters in the south and 510 meters in the North. This lake has a very beautiful natural scenery and stunning, cool weather, a stretch of sparkling white sand beaches, and mountain slopes and surrounding virgin forest. Strategically situated in the trans Sulawesi road, connecting Tana Toraja, Poso, Gorontalo, and Manado, Lake Poso is always visited by domestic and foreign tourists. While at the shore of Lake Poso, the tourists will feel the atmosphere as at the sea shore. On the banks of the lake, the water looks crystal clear and greenish, while in the middle of the lake the water appears blue because it is deeper. Around the lake are assortment of amenities, such as hotels, inns, homestay, and restaurants. Central Sulawesi is blessed with historical, cultural, religious, and prehistoric sites, and therefore, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is making every effort to promote these tourist attractions all-out, both at home and abroad. Now, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy has set three major tourist destination in Central Sulawesi that will get priority in the development in the country. The three leading tourist attractions that are given priority in the development are Matantimali paragliding site, Togean Islands and prehistoric megalith sculptures and other ancient objects. Incredibly pretty and amazing with blue sky, green fields, and nature scenery, Matantimali is said to be one of the best paragliding spots in the Asia Pacific. Matantimali mountain area has become the choice of the people of Palu city to spend their weekend, especially for those who want to enjoy its natural beauty. This very attractive site for tourists and international para-gliders has tremendous beauty and advantage found nowhere else around the world. Early 20th-century Eorpean scholars Albert C Kruyt (1909 and Kaudern (1917-1920) did a lot of research on Central Sulawesi's historical background but part of it has remained undisclosed. The first Europeans who came to Central Sulawesi to trade with the local kings were Portuguese, followed by the Dutch. And the prehistoric sites are still there for the European tourists to see in Central Sulawesi, which also has megalithic spots scattered across the highlands of Bada, Napu, and Besoa, areas inhabited by the Lore people. Central Sulawesi is beautiful with its fascinating mountain, lakes, and valleys that can make foreign tourists love every minute of their stay. This is why, the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is is determined to promote the valuable assets of the province's natural beauty in other countries.