‘More than 75,000 people’ enjoy Aspire Lake Festival

More than 75,000 local and expatriate community members in Qatar visited Aspire Park over three days last weekend to witness the performances of the “first-of-its-kind” Aspire Lake Festival, the organisers said.
The event was organised by Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) in collaboration with Katara and Ooredoo. Speaking on the sidelines of the event that concluded on Saturday evening, Nasser Abdullah al-Hajri, director of PR and Communications at AZF, said: “The huge crowds that attended the first two days exceeded our expectations, so we installed 2,000 additional seats on the last day of the event to accommodate the growing number of visitors, and allocated a section for women and children only.
“The event generated very positive remarks from the attendees and we’ll be working in the coming period to discuss lessons learned and agree the next steps to ensure next year’s event is an even bigger hit.”
Meanwhile, Roberto Corona, creative director for the Aspire Lake Festival, who is performing in the Middle East for the first time, said: “This has been a great experience for us because Qatar is a country with rich and diverse natural surroundings. There’s a beautiful contrast between Qatar’s desert, the greenery and the modern architecture and designs that have resulted from the modernisation and cultural revolution the country has witnessed in the past decade. The Aspire Lake is just as beautiful as Lake Geneva and was the ideal location for the event.”
Prominent local Al Jazeera presenter Ali al-Meslemani, who was spotted in the spectator stands with his family, praised the event saying: “My family and I were very impressed by the volume of people here. The performances captivated us. We usually see these events when we travel abroad, so it was great for Aspire Zone to host such an event home. “We hope to see other similar events organised in Qatar in the future.” 
Khalid Ali al-Mawlawi, chief administrative officer at Aspetar was also attending with his family. Speaking about the event, he said: “The Aspire Lake Festival was remarkable and even better than similar events I’ve previously attended in major European cities. It’s great to see so many locals and expats enjoy the lovely breeze at Aspire Park, one of the landmark tourist attractions in Qatar.”