Blankets and rain and women

The 14^th edition of Blankets And Wine (B&W) was held at Lugogo Cricket Oval on Sunday as planned, away from the gardens of Uganda Museum, the old home.

Should have been reason to get excited, right? It poured heavily at the Oval, an issue which at first sent chills down the event's ardent fans, going by what raged on social media. The banter from those disinterested in this Tusker-Malt sponsored event, and who had remained at home, was that the organisers did not pay their "rainmaker" enough amounts to thwart the rains. They loved it!

 Photo by Richard Sanya

But for those who had not yet made it to the event, their fears largely circled on the venue getting waterlogged as is known to, whenever skies loosen up.

Fortunately, the turf sucked up the waters and the venue was all okay for everyone to lay their picnic mats and suck up every moment.

Men and women of different corporate statuses, adorned in a kaleidoscope of festival attires like maxi dresses, tailor-made shorts, mini-dresses matched with fedoras, jewelries and sunglasses from different designers, looked the part.

What was perhaps amiss on the afternoon was…yes, the sun in the skies to flare down on the chilly atmosphere and complement the sun-attires that had been worn by many.

 Photo by Richard Sanya

The sight of celebrities like artistes Jose Chameleone, spotted with his younger family imbibing every moment of the event, Maurice kirya, comedian Salvador and many others capturing every moment through selfies and all, served a perfect platter for organisers to bask in delight, after what had happened.

Performer after performer did their thing on the stage mounted by Silk Events before their audience that gobbled muchomo grilled by several vendors at the venue and downed assortments of liquor and wines their throats. There was a bouncing castle pitched at the venue by Dstv people to cater for parents and their tots.

But let's be honest, one thing though about B&W, on all the past editions, is which corporate tent you manage to access, for that's where free meats and booze is served. If you are not invited to any of them, you look for your friends in the corporate world to access you in. You fail; you miss out on unpaid-for fun.

But not everyone really come for the tents, the fun is in the middle of the grounds. Bevies of gorgeous girls dancing and gyrating to live music seductively, packs of bachelors on the prowl and performers enchanting crowds on stage, make it complete, and that was the case on Sunday.

 Photo by Richard Sanya

First to perform was world music local artiste Giovanni Kiyingi, then came gospel artiste Levixone, and MoRoots, Qwela Band, Jude Keracho and then deejays Racheal, Selector Jay and Saint Evo. That was before South African duo Mafikizolo took over the night with their hits such as "Khona" and "Happiness." Other than the venue being too large for the organisers, as it made it look like attendance was not in its usual big numbers, it was a fun-filled event.