The 12th folk festival was held this weekend at Lomovsky Nature and Landscape Park in the Vorobiev district of the Voronezh Region with guests and participants coming from other cities, as well as from Ukraine and Belarus. On August 5, the festival’s opening day, there were about 10,000 visitors.
The festival included a trade fair of Russian traditional crafts offering the visitors various bead jewellery, clay and china toys, ceramics, knitted clothes, hammered and wooden items. All the visitors enjoyed the fair a lot.
“I come here every year. I like the atmosphere and the nature here very much. Just look at this pond and the windmill! There are a lot of people here and everyone enjoys themselves. This makes you feel good, – says Liliya Abakumova, one of the craftspeople.
She comes to the festival not just to sell her hand-made toys, but to meet other people, other craftsmen. She makes good friends with many of them: for years on, they keep in touch, share their professional secrets and knowhow.
The programme of the festival also included a concert by artistic groups from the Voronezh region. The audience enjoyed the concert very much, a lot of people danced. Singers from Novokhopersk told us that the festival was really a big one, but it was a pity that they had no chance to perform on the main stage, as it was only for teams from other regions.
“And we are as good as them”, – said the performers.
Those visitors who had attended the festival before and seen a lot of singers and dancers from other cities, agreed with them. Some people brought their whole families to the festival. Most of those who have been here once, want to come again.
“It’s the second time we are here, – told us Sergey from Olkhovatka, who came to the festival with his wife Elena and their daughter Boleslava. – There are, of course, some minor things, like, for example, there are very few trash bins here. But on the whole, the festival is great. I love the way they manage to create the atmosphere of ancient times. This is especially good for children. Our daughter is very exited. She likes it here. It is like going back in time.”
The opening ceremony was held at 8 o’clock in the evening. There were so many visitors that not everyone got a seat, but still everyone enjoyed themselves. That day, the atmosphere in the park was very friendly. People sat on the grass round the pond, watching a beautiful show on the water with floating boats and a fountain serving as a projector. There was also a big screen so that everyone could see what was happening on the stage.
This year, the festival’s theme was reconciliation and friendship. The programme of the concert included performances by various artistic groups form St. Petersburg, Tula, Rostov, Volgograd, as well as from Tatarstan and Lugansk Region who received especially warm welcome. There were also national Caucasian dances that impressed the audience greatly.
Olga Podluzhnaya, a singer from Yakutia, came to the stage on a dog sled and impressed the public with her enchanting throat singing. After the concert everyone was invited to try dogsledding.
There was also a group called Erevet (beauty) from Chuvashia who sang in their amazing national costumes. A lot of people walking in the “City of Craftsmen” asked to take a photo with them before the concert.
The singers were over 50, but still looked young and cheerful, and in a way resembled the winners of Eurovision-2012 – Buranovskiye Babushki. They even said that they would also like to take part the famous singing contest, but they have no sponsors.
“If we find sponsors, we will be only glad to go. We will have no problem singing in English”, – said the singers and headed for the stage.
The ceremony finished with festive fireworks.
On August 6, several masterclasses in folk singing and dancing, as well as a craft competition, were held at Lomovsky park. On August 7, the festival that gave its visitors such a great time and a lot of positive emotions, ended with a beautiful closing ceremony.
Information for the article was provided by the following website:
http://www.moe-online.ru/news/view/347208.html
