shimla the queen of hills shimla celebrated the inaugural evening of the international summer festival shimla 2017 in the historic ridge maidan on thursday akanksha sharma madhuri pandey and rajeev thapa were the stars of the event which also witnessed a performance of the national ballet of democratic republic of congo that impressed the audiences the fiveday long will conclude on june 5 the festival is the citys biggest where even bollywood stars have performed a large number of tourists especially from neighbouring states are in shimla every year to enjoy the festival however this time there will be no miss shimla beauty pageant which is disappointing in the festival two star nights have been organised on first and last days on the concluding day the sultana sisters will be the main attraction the bonus for the crowd is a food festival at gufa ashiyana at ridge a folk dance festival at gaiety theatre at the mall road baby show dog show and others the winners will be given prizes besides folk dances by schools songs and various dances too will be performed on stageshimla deputy commissioner rohan chand thakur said that after auditioning about 400 singers they shortlisted some the auditions were taken by himachal pradesh universitys music department professor ram swaroop shandil and others our focus is to showcase the true talent the state is bestowed with we admire that a large number of youth were willing to participate in the fest he addedscheduleinternational summer festival shimla 2017june 1 star night akanksha sharma madhuri pandey and rajeev thapa june 2 pahari night muskan thakur dilip sirmaurijune 3 fashion show vinti singhjune 4 pahari night lokinder chauhan geeta bhardwajthakur dass raathijune 5 star night sultana sisters maanu thakurkuchipuri dance