Preiļi Celebrates Its Municipality Festival in Splendid Style

As tradition dictates, the municipality festival was held in Preiļi at the end of August – this year, from 19 to 21 August. Although in the preceding weeks it had seemed that autumn had arrived prematurely in Latvia, the people of Preiļi and the festival guests were treated to truly summery, sunny weather that allowed them to enjoy the varied programme from morning until late at night. The festival was also honoured by the presence of our honorary citizens, Jānis Streičs and Bruno Davio from France, as well as guests from our partner cities – Utena in Lithuania and Hlybokaye in Belarus.

The first day of the festival began with the Preiļi Book Festival, which was opened with the help of the Preiļi Raven and its assistants – little ravens. As part of the Book Festival, activities were held for book lovers of various ages – an open microphone for literary readings, meetings with writer Nora Ikstena and bathhouse attendant Anita Reščenko, a theatrical performance for children, demonstrations by dog handlers, and more.

Various concerts took place during the festival days and evenings – the performance by the Preiļi Municipality Culture Centre’s senior vocal ensemble “Kaļinuška” took place in a more intimate atmosphere in the garden of the “Pie Pliča” guest house, while singer Intars Busulis and his backing band, the Abonementa Orchestra, drew a full audience to Preiļi’s large open-air stage. Children enjoyed the musical theatre performance of songs, poetry  and dance, “Festivities in the Wonder Chest”, while the Twins and Makree, Bandmaster and the rap group OLAS entertained young people at a disco evening. As usual, the folk-art groups of our municipality demonstrated a high professional level in both dance and song.

During the festival, meetings were also held with Jānis Plivda and Voldemārs Kokorevičs, the authors of the exhibition “Three Viewpoints” on display at the Preiļi Cultural Centre. The event featured not only a collective singing of the Preiļi anthem, but also the sharing of memories about how it was created, revealing previously unknown details to many of those present.

Active participation in various physical activities once again proved that sporty people live in the municipality – fishing competitions, beach volleyball and football tournaments, and the first round of the Preiļi Municipality Open Table Tennis Championship were held. Young people and children could find inspiration by watching the energetic street-dance demonstrations “RoyalSummerJam”, while men could not only cheer on Latvia’s strongmen but also test their own strength.

As every year, the culmination of the festival was the splendid procession of Preiļi Municipality institutions, companies, non-governmental organisations and guests to the open-air stage, which concluded with balloons rising into the blue sky. Maruta Plivda, Chairwoman of the Preiļi Municipality Council, addressed and greeted the festival guests – thanks were expressed to the owners of the best-maintained properties and to the winners and coaches who achieved first to sixth places at the 4th Latvian Olympiad, while the guests were also honoured.

Preiļi is a family- and child-friendly town both in everyday life and during festivals, which is why there were especially many young celebrants, who were treated to various entertaining activities as well as educational events.

During the festival, both of the town’s churches also cared for the spiritual well-being of the municipality’s people – on Sunday morning, festive services entitled “A Prayer for the Residents of Preiļi Municipality” were held at the Preiļi Old Believers’ Church and the church of the Preiļi Roman Catholic parish.

The festival was a success, delighting both the people of Preiļi and the many guests from nearby and more distant municipalities, as well as from abroad.