“Clean from the Mountain” Veal Festival

Future Without Borders and Lambievi Kolibi organised the first edition of the “Clean from the Mountain” Veal Festival in the village of Kraishte, Belitsa Municipality, with the full support of Belitsa Municipality. The festival promoted local produce, traditions and livestock farming in the area and brought many people together to celebrate, eat and have fun.

The programme

• folk ensembles and amateur groups from Belitsa, Razlog, the village of Banya and Velingrad
• music by Yoana Lilova
• traditional wrestling with medals and a prize fund
• a kurban (traditional shared meal) for the guests
• stalls run by local participants

The festival was officially opened by the Mayor of Belitsa Municipality, Radoslav Revanski, and Fatima Yaldaz. According to Pirin Press, around 4,000 people visited on the first day.

Thank you

• to Belitsa Municipality — for its full support and the medals for the wrestlers;
• to the “Bratya Ganchovi” restaurant — for hosting our special guests and folk ensembles, for helping prepare the grounds and for its support throughout the festival;
• to Maya Padareva and the “Georgi Todorov – 1885” community cultural centre — for the folk programme, the texts and their dedication;
• to Kalin Barakov — for the idea, for sponsoring and delivering the festival, for the kurban for the guests, and for the prize fund and awards for the wrestlers;
• to Ilyaz Dagonov — for his huge help in organising, refereeing and running the wrestling.

We also thank all the folk ensembles and amateur groups, the hosts, the sound and technical team, the photo and video team, the stallholders and everyone who helped with organisation, security and logistics.

“This was a celebration of community, tradition and the Bulgarian spirit.” — Ibrahim Mehmed

In the media: Bulgarian National Radio – Blagoevgrad · Bulgarian National Radio – Kardzhali · Pirin Press – announcement · Pirin Press – day one

Official website: teleshko-fest.com

Some of the photos: Yanik S Stoyanov.