About the festival "Cranes and Cranberries of the Miory Region"
It has become a good tradition to hold the ecological festival "Cranes and Cranberries of Miory Region" annually in September in the Miory district. It was initiated in 2012.
The timing of the holiday is not accidental: it is in September that the cranberry harvesting season begins here, and the Yalnya bog holds the first place in Belarus in terms of these berries. In addition, the Miory district annually hosts over 35,000 common cranes and tens of thousands of geese of various species, which stop to rest at the Yalnya bog during their autumn migration. Over the past thirteen years, the Miory district has been visited by tens of thousands of guests, including those from far abroad.
This year, the traditional festival "Cranes and Cranberries of Miory Region" was held on September 21 in Miory.
The ecological festival kicked off with a cranberry harvesting competition "Cranberry Taste" among trade union organizations of the labor collectives of the Miory district. The head of the Miory District Inspectorate of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection also took part in this competition. In addition, on the eve of the main celebration day, an ecological week was held in the district's educational institutions from September 16 to 21, a meeting with young specialists who arrived in the district, a meeting of the young family club "On the Crane Trail" at the visitor center of the "Yalnya" state environmental institution, and a car enthusiasts' skills competition among youth "Crane Drive".
September 21, the main day of the holiday, was also filled with various events, including those of an ecological nature. The ecological festival "Cranes and Cranberries of Miory Region" was combined with the 2024 harvest campaign and the patriotic education of the population, which gave the celebrations a special meaning and resonance.
On this day, a solemn wedding registration "Crane Wedding" took place at the registry office of the district executive committee. A rally was held on Lenin Square in the district center, dedicated to honoring the rural workers who participated in the 2024 harvest campaign "Dazhynki", with the laying of flowers at the memorial sign to the soldiers-liberators of Miory from the Nazi invaders; a solemn procession of the rally participants along the route: Lenin Square – Kommunisticheskaya Street – Kirova Street – Izvarina Street – City Park "Poluostrov".
On the peninsula, the opening of the regional competition of song and music ensembles "Crane Ringing", the regional interactive exhibition-competition of arts and crafts "Bird Fright" took place. An exhibition of ecological literature "Crane Educator", a competition of farmsteads of the Miory district "Crane Fair", the awarding of the best rural workers of the district who participated in the 2024 harvest campaign, the awarding of the winners of the district landscaping competition, the winners of the rural farmstead competition, the winners of the cranberry harvesting competition, the best cranberry suppliers, the winners of the regional competition of song and music ensembles "Crane Ringing", the regional interactive exhibition-competition of arts and crafts "Bird Fright" were held. The interactive platform "Crane Mail" was operating, where thematic postcards were sent.
Many guests visited the celebration, glorifying Yelnya with its high and transitional bogs, where tens of thousands of cranes find temporary shelter and useful cranberries ripen.
Throughout the day, a bus provided free transportation for festival guests to the swamp, where they could observe migratory birds. An open day was held at the visitor center of the state environmental institution "Yelnya". In addition to exciting bird encounters, festival guests could participate in environmental games, purchase souvenirs made by local artisans as mementos of the holiday, and also try cranberry juice, various cranberry sweets, and buy these berries for future use, as master classes were held on preparing dishes with cranberries, traditional folk crafts, and eco-souvenir production.
Many interesting events were prepared for children with the aim of their environmental education. The celebration concluded with a themed disco "Crane Dance Floor".
During the same period, extensive work was carried out in the media and on the internet to cover the preparation and holding of the festival.