BY VIVYNNA ANN CHABU
SERIAN: The organising committee of Taee Gawai Parade 2024 hope that such event will be registered under the Sarawak Tourism Calendar.
Its chairman George Oscar said once it is registered, it will not only promote the celebration of Gawai but also help in finances and facilities of people in Taee.
“We want Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) to be aware of this parade and hopefully, we can make it bigger by next year.
“This year’s parade drew over 1,000 locals and visitors to celebrate the unique and vibrant Dayak culture.
“We have the advantage of doing this parade because the village length is around two kilometres and we want the feeling of Gawai to be filled in every nook and corner of the village so they can hear the beats of gong,” he said.
At the same time, Taee Gawai advisor John David Nyauh said before this they had a Gawai Eve dinner but was not attended by all.
“So, we want to make everyone, including the tourist to experience the Gawai festivities.
“Another thing that makes this parade unique is we give people that walk around in the parade food and drink, to make everyone feel included in this harvest celebration.
“We hope that by next year we can have a much bigger parade than this year while also improving our facilities such as having homestay or camping sites for tourists.
He also said that they want to change the location to hold this parade to a much bigger place but they need to inspect the place first for everyone’s safety.
Meanwhile, Pepsi Malaysia expressed their delight to sponsor this year’s Gawai Taee parade for the first time.
Etika vice president of marketing Amy Gan said that they are honoured to support and uplift the local creative community.
“This year, we produced a captivating music video and song titled ‘Pepsi Harvest Festival Anthem. Witnessing both visitors and the Kampung Taee community dance to our music during the parade was truly heart-warming.”
Also present during the officiating of the Gawai Taee parade is Tebedu assemblyman Dr Simon Sinang Bada and his wife.
