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LAHORE:
Lahore’s flagship annual celebration, the Horse and Cattle Show, is set to return with a sweeping programme of cultural spectacles, sporting contests and rural traditions, turning the provincial capital into a festive stage for more than three weeks of activity.
Stretching across 22 days from March 28 to April 18, the festival will unfold at multiple venues including Fortress Stadium and Jilani Park, promising parades, music, food and heritage displays that reflect the colour and vitality of Punjab’s cultural life.
The opening ceremony at Fortress Stadium on March 28 will mark the beginning of a packed calendar that blends entertainment with tradition, drawing families, tourists and enthusiasts of equestrian sports from across the country.
Organised by the Punjab government, the festival is expected to attract millions of visitors. Among the most anticipated attractions will be grand float parades between March 28 and April 11, presenting colourful tableaux celebrating rural life and regional culture.
Motor enthusiasts will also find a place in the festivities when the Lahore Polo Club hosts a vintage car and motorcycle show on March 29. Jilani Park will meanwhile host a circus from March 31 to April 11, offering entertainment for families and children.
The festival atmosphere will continue with a food and music celebration and a fashion showcase scheduled there from April 10 to April 12. Cultural expression will also find its place in the programme through a Sufi festival at Hazuri Bagh on April 12.
Equestrian sport, long associated with the Horse and Cattle Show, will remain at the heart of the festival. The Lahore Polo Club will stage an international polo match on April 1 alongside Arab horse dressage and the tent pegging championship.
Sporting contests are also part of the wider schedule, with kabaddi competitions and other traditional games planned at Jilani Park, alongside a cycle race expected to draw participants and spectators eager to join the festive spirit.
The main attraction, the exhibition of animals, will showcase prized livestock and horses from Punjab and beyond, highlighting the strength of Pakistan’s rural economy and the importance of animal breeding traditions that have shaped the region’s agricultural heritage for generations.
Farmers, breeders and livestock experts from across the country are expected to bring their best animals to the exhibition grounds, where competitions and displays will celebrate the quality and diversity of cattle breeds and the enduring prestige attached to horse breeding.
The closing ceremony on April 18 will bring together highlights from the entire programme, concluding the festival that blends modern entertainment with rural tradition and reaffirming the Horse and Cattle Show’s reputation as one of Lahore’s most prominent cultural gatherings.
