The icing on the cake was that the festival was aptly held during the country's Heritage weekend, so locals and foreigners alike could appreciate and celebrate South Africa's culture and traditions in such an event.
As we celebrate our own heritage today on Utamaduni Day, there will be a smattering of songs and dances at various entertainment spots, but no festival is slated anywhere. Questions arise over where Kenya is in terms of festivals. Can we reach such numbers as well?
Several Kenyan influencers were at the Delicious Festival courtesy of South African Tourism, most of whom expressed amazement at the grandeur that it had. The festival that comes closest in Kenya is the Koroga Festival, one of the biggest concerts in East Africa, which is also a two-day event that has been held for 7 years, with 30 editions, and the 31st is coming soon.
Speaking to The Standard at the festival, Farida Idris, Project Director of the Koroga Festival, said that they were learning lessons from Delicious.
"We have always wanted to benchmark Koroga as an international festival. Coming to see Delicious, there is so much that you learn from it in terms of different ideas. We obviously have our own niche and a unique layout of how we execute Koroga," she said.
One difference she pointed out was that at Koroga, the youth and the older generation are separated. The Saturday show is especially dedicated to the youth, where they focus on Kenyan artists only and the target audience is about 18 to 27, while day two, is the main day, which is a family day that even children can attend.
"But what I found out here is that they have a section for the youth that is completely separate from the main stage and the main arena and the main everything, and they call it to stage 2. And then you can have your older generation on both days, where the main acts are performing," she said.
The Lamu Cultural Festival has not been held in over four years, yet it was a major source of income for the county.
Other festivals in the country are however still ongoing, such as the Beneath The Baobabs Festival (formerly known as Kilifi New Year Festival) held at the end of every year, whose organizers say has evolved into a 2-day, 2-night Kenyan Destination festival, and will this year feature over 60 East African and international acts.
A South African events coordinator, Ndumiso Buthelezi, also known as 2Lee Stark, told The Standard during the Delicious Festival that such events were good for the continent.
"We would also love to see what Kenya has as well. We would get to have a fun exchange in terms of what goes down there," he said.