Sky Fest 2015 on Wednesday

Lights for charity

A unique carnival, ACT Fiber Net Sky Fest 2015, to raise funds for a charity will be organised in city from December 23. The fest will be held at Gachibowli Stadium in aid of Sparsh Hospice, the centre providing palliative care to the terminally ill patients.

Rotary Club of Banjara Hills in association with the Telangana government is organising the fest which plans to raise Rs.5.5 crore for the NGO to build its own facility. Para jumping by Indian Air Force team Akash Ganga, midnight movies, music concerts, shopping and food courts besides hot air balloon rides will be the major attractions at the carnival.

Organisers have roped in Sky-Waltz, India's first and largest commercial hot air ballooning company. For the first time, the city will witness hot air balloon riding, Jagadish Ramadugu, one of the organisers, told. Midnight movies with food and drink are another unique feature. One offbeat movie will be screened every night.

There will be one musical concert every day with performers like Sonu Nigam, Devi Sri Prasad, Badshah, R P Patnaik and Shankar Mahadevan. The carnival will also offer a wide range of dining experience from tea, snacks to various Indian and international cuisine.

There will be 100 shops as part of the shopping festival. Acts, amusement, fun and entertainment activities are also lined up to captivate visitors. Started in 2011, Sparsh Hospice has so far provided palliative care to 700 terminally ill patients.

"Though we have been organising the fund raiser every year, this time we decided to have a marquee event," said Jagdish, who expects at least one lakh visitors.