10. Šūpoļu festivāls

We live in a time when the greatest swings on the planet are the planet itself and human reason. Nothing swings more powerfully than our world right now. It swings with unusual amplitude, and we are all connected to this mechanism. Swings teach us a simple but profound law – balance is not standing still. Balance is the ability to maintain your center while in motion. Just as the sun rises on Easter Hill year after year and overcomes the darkness, the festival becomes a space where each person's inner movement is accepted and celebrated.

 

The 10th Swing Festival invites you to go on a journey. This time, its grounds will become a miniature model of the world, as the hills of Sigulda symbolically converse with the peaks of the Alps, and the flow of the Gauja River echoes the currents of the ocean. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, the pyramids in Egypt, The Beatles in rainy Liverpool, or the iconic white sails of the Sydney Opera House in sunny Sydney. Each of the themed swings will carry the identity code of a place in the world, its iconic, universally recognizable symbols created in this era. The stories of different countries will come together in a single dramatic flow, and Sigulda will become a symbolic center of the world during the festival.

 

For the fifth year running, Ukraine and its people have been the center of global madness and, at the same time, unbreakable willpower. Unfortunately, for the fifth year running, the Swing Festival has also been swinging Ukraine's struggles, hoping each year that this will be the last. The madness continues, and we must continue to devote our energy to supporting victory. At the festival, you can swing on Ukrainian swings, lend a hand in creating camouflage nets, and make a donation in exchange for a warming bowl of Ukrainian borscht. Every young festival visitor will be able to bring a smile to the face of a Ukrainian child for a moment by giving them a toy they have brought along to show their support.

 

Active preparations are currently underway in Sigulda for the tenth Swing Festival. As is tradition, visitors will have the opportunity to swing on various swings created by the masters of the Sigulda Swing Festival, view environmental objects created by artists, shop at the rich Easter market, express your creativity in Zum-Zum workshops, challenge yourself to a game of ping-pong, or read a book while lazily swinging in the reading room. However, this year's festival will also surprise visitors with several new features. Ten stories from the festival's ten-year history will be displayed in the trees of Maija Park. A photo exhibition in the park, where photographs, sketches of memories, details of the first constructions, and the most vivid moments will allow you to follow how the idea turned into movement, and movement into a part of the city's identity. Meanwhile, at Sigulda Railway Station Square, a lively group of rabbits will gather together with the festival symbol — a blooming rabbit — to accompany the participants of the Rabbit Run and invite them to capture the special atmosphere of the festival in unforgettable photographs.

 

The festival attractions will be located in the main squares of the city – Sigulda Railway Station Square and Festival Square – but some attractions will also be located in other areas of the city and Sigulda County, as well as in the most popular viewing spots in Gauja National Park. A special swing trail map will be available digitally in the Sigulda aizrauj! mobile app, on social media, and at sigulda.lv.

 

The Swing Festival will open on Saturday, April 4, with the Olympic Rabbit Run. Traditionally, participants in the approximately one-kilometer run from the railway station to Sigulda Festival Square will be encouraged by the pride of the region – legendary Olympians. However, on this anniversary, the sports champions will be joined at the starting line by musicians, television and radio personalities who once built their own swings, helping to launch the festival – Juris Kaukulis, Kaspars Tobis, Rūta Dvinska, and others. The race and the opening of the festival will start at 12:00 p.m. at the Sigulda railway station square.