Dooars Utsab, the annual cultural extravaganza hosted by the state government in Alipurduar, a district with tea gardens and pristine forests surrounded by the Bhutan hills, will commence from December 28 and continue till January 7.

The fest was first held over a decade ago to provide a platform for local talents as well as to exhibit local culture, ethnic garments and traditional cuisine of Alipurduar district and north Bengal region as a whole.

The tradition has continued.

“Every year, the fest draws thousands of people. It will be held at the Parade Ground. From this year, anybody sitting in any part of the world can watch the cultural events and get a taste of the fest as we are introducing a separate website for the event,” said R. Vimla, the district magistrate of Alipurduar.

On Tuesday, the district magistrate formally launched the website — www.biswadooarsutsab.in — in the presence of other members of the celebration committee.

According to sources, the venue of the fest will have around 2,000 stalls displaying various products. Among these, there will be stalls from neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal as well.

“We will set up three stages for cultural events. In one stage, performances by different traditional cultural groups would be held. The other two stages would be used for guest performers and child artists,” said Sourav Chakraborty, general secretary of the committee.

Altogether, 4,000 children will perform during the fest.

“We have 54 different tribes in Alipurduar district. Among them, cultural troupes of 21 tribes will present their performances,” Chakraborty added.

During the fest, around 1,000 police personnel will be deployed in and around the venue.

On December 27, a day ahead of the fest, a colourful rally would be organised in Alipurduar. The next day, just before the inauguration of the Utsab, there will be a run named “Run for Dooars.”

“We will have singers from Calcutta, Mumbai and Bangladesh to perform at the event. Like in the previous years, we expect residents of the district and neighbouring districts to congregate at the fest to celebrate New Year,” said Chakraborty.