During the weekend Riga will warmly welcome more than 40,000 XXVII Nationwide Latvian Song Festival and XVII Dance Festival participants, from which almost 12,000 will come from the capital city’s collectives. The city will make sure that every visitor and resident feels the festive atmosphere by organising live streams of great concerts and by decorating the city with a special festive decorations.
“Riga cooperates closely with the organisers of the Song and Dance Festival on a daily basis to ensure that all the participants feel welcome in the city, that the city's parks and squares look beautiful, and that everyone who is present — both residents and visitors — can enjoy true festival atmosphere. We also considered a more convenient way to get around Riga, as well as thought about a special festival ticket for spectators and city visitors, and a more climate-friendly festival. Song and Dance Festival is not only about the events at the venues, but also about the festive feeling in the people around you, in the happenings and sense of being together. So we would like to congratulate every festival participant and visitor, and wish you beautiful and powerful Song and Dance Festival! Wherever you may go, we want you to have a wonderful and memorable festival experience," says Eva Juhņēviča, advisor to the Riga City Executive Director.
Riga will accommodate the festival participants in 49 municipal schools, which were selected in continuation of long-standing cooperation and traditions, as well as in other non-municipal institutions. To make it easier to reach the festival venues, most of the participants' accommodation is located on the right bank of the Daugava River.
During the festival, participants will be provided with free access to Riga's public transport and there will be special parking places for participants' buses. Additional public transport lines will also be provided for participants and spectators to get to and from the event venues. You can find a summary about all traffic information during the festival on website riga.lv/satiksme-vasara.
From 1 to 10 July, visitors and spectators of the festival will be able to use a special festival ticket on Riga's public transport, thus encouraging people to prioritise and make use of micro-mobility, thus reducing the use of private transport.
To make the festival more climate-friendly, participants and visitors will have access to water taps in the city and eight mobile water refilling stations that will be located at the major venues — Mežaparks Grand Stage, Daugava Stadium, Esplanāde and Vērmane Garden.
In anticipation of the festival, the city is decorated in a special "Welcome to Riga" theme, where merry dancers greet participants and visitors at stands in the urban environment. The lighting posts are decorated with decorative signs that guide visitors to the festival venues. There will also be various objects in the urban environment during the festival, so that every resident and visitor can capture their own memories of this week in the capital. National flags will fly from flagpoles in the city.
Riga City Council, thinking about the accessibility of the festival for the residents and visitors of Riga who will not be able to watch the concerts in person, will organise a public concert watching on 8 and 9 July of the dance performance "The Eternal Engine" and the closing concert "Together Up" in eight Riga neighbourhoods (Strazdumuiža Park, Nordeķi Park, Latgale Park, Arkādija Park, the territory of the Culture and Recreation Centre "Imanta", Pļavnieku Grove, the territory of Čiekurkalna Library and the garden of Bolderāja Music and Art School).
From 7 to 9 July, participants and visitors of the Song and Dance Festival will be able to enjoy the festival's restaurant and the opportunity to enjoy the dance performance and the closing concert on the big screen. From 30 June to 9 July, a LED cube will be installed in the Dome Square to show live streams from the very beginning of the festival.
Information was prepared by: Sindija Grāvere, Project Coordinator External Communication Division of Riga City Council, e-mail: sindija.gravere@riga.lv
