Surakarta in Central Java is preparing to host the third Bengawan Solo Boat Festival on Sunday, which doubles as part of the efforts to remind people of the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of the river.

'[Through the festival] We will also teach the people about the history of the gethek [rafts] as well as that of Bengawan Solo River,' Ipoung Saryoko of the festival organizing committee said on Thursday.

Gethek is the local name of a raft made of bamboo stems that are tied together to form a flat surface and includes floats made of either inner tubes from used cars, jerrycans or drums, depending on the depth of the water.

Twenty-eight gethek have been confirmed for the festival, which will be held along Bengawan Solo River. It will start from Ngepung hamlet, Sangkrah village in Pasar Kliwon district, and finish at the Ronggowarsito Park in the Taru Jurug Animal Park. The route covers a distance of 4.2 kilometers.

Like previous events, both the Surakarta mayor and vice mayor are also scheduled to be on board one of the participating gethek.

Each of the two-by-five meter gethek will accommodate between six to 10 participants belonging to the same group.

All groups will row their respective rafts and will have two stops: at Kampung Sewu and at the Ronggowarsito Park, which also functions as the finish line of the festival.

 'If everything runs smoothly, we will need at least two hours to get to the park from Ngepung [starting point],' Parsik, a participant, said.

The smoothness of the trip, according to Parsik, depends mostly on the depth of the river along the way to the finish line as well as the efficiency of the apem (cake) spreading ritual, which involves the community.

For Sri Lestari, a local trader, the festival, first held in 2011, had been an interesting event that was too good to miss.

'There are thousands of spectators, crowding both banks of the river,' said Sri who claimed to have never missed a single event of the gethek festival.

Other interesting moments to remember from the two previous events, according to Sri, was the involvement of then-mayor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, now Jakarta Governor, and then-vice mayor FX Hadi 'Rudy' Rudyatmo (now Surakarta Mayor).

'That was the part that I remember the most,' said Sri, adding that during their trip on the raft, Rudy often jumped into the river to help push the raft he was in as it passed through a shallow part and got stuck.

The festival is not the only event that will take place on Bengawan Solo.

Other events include the Gunungan Charity Boat Race organized by the Gunungan Foundation and the Larung Ageng Joko Tingkir held by the Surakarta Palace to float offerings on Java's longest river.

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