Festival — in each region

The culture and sport festival Vytoki is gaining momentum

Dozens of sports grounds, exciting excursions, concerts by young vocalists and popular artists are just a small part of the Vytoki festival programme. A culture and sports festival was held in our country for the first time last year. It traveled from region to region and finished in Minsk. After a short pause, it started again. The second season of the Vytoki festival began its journey in Rechitsa. From there it moved to Stolin. Tomorrow it is expected in Novogrudok and three other cities. We tell you why this event is not to be missed.

Rechitsa

Over the past year, when Vytoki visited Lida, Orsha, Kobrin, Mozyr, Bobruisk, Soligorsk and Minsk, the festival fell in love with thousands of participants. It is no wonder that everyone — both a child and an adult — could find entertainment to his or her liking in the rich programme of the holiday. The content of the festival has become even more interesting in the new season.
Despite the fact that this time the festival is held for two days, but not three, as it was last summer, it has become even more exciting and interactive. In Rechitsa, for example, it all started with an excursion into history. During the press tour, the participants were told about the Milograd archaeological culture, numerous heritage of which is located throughout the region. Journalists from regional and republican media visited the high bank of the Dnieper River near the chapel of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the largest enterprise in the region — Rechitsa Hardware Plant, and also had the opportunity to assess the tourist attractiveness of the region using the example of one of the farmsteads. 
 The second part turned out to be no less exciting. Residents and guests of the city saw a Route from the Varangians to the Greeks theatrical performance during the concert programme of the second day of the festival. This, by the way, is one of the novelties of the new season: in each of the cities hosting Vytoki, viewers are offered to explore the history during mini-performances. Young vocalists performed on the main stage of the festival, Rodnae Modnae show of clothing collections of Belarusian designers and manufacturers took place for the first time, break-dancers demonstrated their skills, and popular Belarusian artists performed in front of thousands of guests in the evening — Alena Lanskaya, Teo and Olga Ryzhikova, Alexander Solodukha and others.
On October Square, a ‘Vytoki. A Step Toward Olympus’ large-scale sports ground has unfolded, where everyone could try their hand at more than 30 sports, ranging from traditional basketball, hockey and rowing to knife throwing and passing the obstacle course from the Emergencies Ministry. One could see the products of enterprises and artisans at the Belarusian Brands exhibition fair, try dishes of Belarusian cuisine at a huge food court... The fact that the holiday was a success was also proved by the numbers — it was visited by more than 20,000 people!

Stolin

The city is claimed the centre of Vytoki in the Brest Region this year, a city first mentioned in chronicles in 1555. After the starting point of the tour — the regional museum of local history — the participants of the press tour went to the place of mourning and people’s memory — the Stasino tract, where the Nazis killed 12,500 civilians, including children and women during the Great Patriotic War. The guests of the festival also honoured the memory of the dead — representatives of the National Olympic Committee, Federation of Trade Unions. The press tour ended with a visit to the Gorinsky plant of construction materials and the Villa ‘L’va’ agroestate, located on the territory of the Olmany Swamps republican reserve.


As in Rechitsa, educational seminars and round tables were held in Stolin with the participation of representatives of the Sports and Tourism Ministry, the NOC, the Belarusian Olympic Academy, as well as a ‘Malyavanka. Outflows of self-made craftsmanship’ exciting master class on printing on cloth. This is another innovation of the festival. If in the first season the guests of the festival were offered to get acquainted with the works of Belarusian artists and participants in the children’s drawing competition, now everyone can try their hand at folk crafts and create a painted tablecloth and napkin with their own hands.  Traditionally, Saturday became the culmination of the holiday — exhibitions, concerts, fashion shows and much more. Particular attention, of course, was paid to sports. A native of Stolin, Deputy Head of the Belarus President Administration Igor Lutsky noted, “It is important that we instill an interest in sports and physical education from childhood. In my childhood, we spent most of our free time on street playgrounds. The modern world and gadgets have changed a lot, and this holiday is designed to get things back on the rails.”
According to another good tradition, the leadership of the local executive committee received from the NOC a certificate for 100,000 rubles for the development of sports in the region. However, it was not the only gift to Stolin: a football class was opened in the village of Ozdamichi, and Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus Mikhail Orda said,
“Thus, we give the village its due: the parents of these children work hard, work for the food security of the country. Thanks to them, we have bread, meat, milk on our tables. And at this time, their children — have the opportunity to grow under the supervision of experienced coaches.”

Novogrudok

Tomorrow the culture and sports festival Vytoki will come to the Grodno Region — this year it will be hosted by Novogrudok. On Friday, during the press tour, the guests of the city will visit the branch of the Lida dairy plant Novogrudskiye Dary Dairy Company, the House-Museum of Adam Mickiewicz, learn a lot about the Novogrudok vytinanka-vybivanka, visit the Strachanaya spadchyna mini-museum of layouts and the ruins of the former residences of specific princes and princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania will be the subject of a theatrical performance that will take place during the opening ceremony. Seminars, master classes, many sports grounds, concerts —one can relax with the whole family and learn many new things at the festival. For example, to see the racing truck of the MAZ-SPORTauto team for oneself and talk with its pilot Sergey Vyazovich, learn how to properly tie various knots on the new site for sports tourism and orienteering, and not only.
Back then, during the festival in Stolin, Chairman of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Aliaksandr Bahdanovich noticed, “It’s great that events like this take place in the outback. This develops the region, and each region of our country is unique. As for children, their involvement in sports is a good idea. It’s great when it takes place in the atmosphere of a festival, a holiday, when children can communicate with the athletes themselves.”

BY THE WAY
The culture and sport festival Vytoki, organised by the National Olympic Committee, Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, the Arthaos and BelBrandAudit, will be held very soon in three more cities of our country: on June 22nd-23rd — in Gorki, on August 12th-13th — in Polotsk, and on August 26th-27th — in Kopyl. Do not miss it!

By Tatyana Litvinova
Photos by Aleksandr Kushner, Pavel Bogush, BELTA