How Independence Day is celebrated in Odesa

On Independence Day, Odesa traditionally hosts the Vyshyvanka Festival.

The VyshyvankaFestival is an ethnic festival held on 23-27 August 2017 on Primorsky Boulevard in Odesa. The festival is dedicated to the 26th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence. This is the ninth festival.

"The 2017 Vyshyvanka Festival is a multi-structured event with about two dozen different actions, activities and events. Throughout the festival, there are photo zones on Primorsky Boulevard where everyone can take a photo in an embroidered shirt and a fair of folk artists where you can see and buy embroidered shirts and ethnic jewelry, traditional ceramics and Ukrainian books, CDs with Ukrainian music, movies, and various Ukrainian souvenirs. There is also a daily concert program.

Traditional for Odesa is the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine on the Day of the National Flag of Ukraine, August 23. From 10:00 a.m., a fair was held on Prymorsky Boulevard, where anyone could buy works by craftsmen and women, especially embroidered shirts. Also, from 10:00 a.m. to evening, the space near Duke University was decorated in a patriotic style, and the concert program featured performances by Shadow of the Sun, Druzhe Muzyko, and Sixth Sense.

At 11:00, the traditional raising of the National Flag by the Potemkin Stairs took place. About 40 of the festival's most experienced volunteers, accompanied by the Navy Band and students of the Naval Lyceum, unfurled the 26-meter-long flag of Ukraine, the length of which symbolizes the age of our country.

On August 24, at 6:00 a.m., a patriotic race in embroidered shirts took place near the Duke monument. At 13:00, 2,464 people[8] gathered in a human chain wearing embroidered shirts, from the Duke monument along the Potemkin Stairs, through the seaport, and to the yacht club. Among the participants was the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, Maksym Stepanov.

At 16:00, a patriotic Independence Day car rally took place near the Duke monument, with about 50 motorists participating[10]. In the evening, at 19:00, a free festive concert was held on Primorsky Boulevard with the participation of the bands Fontaliza, Pianoboy and Druha Rika, and the evening was hosted by Oleksandr Pedan.

Ігор Льов