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 Main | Archive | Issue 7/2008
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Day of Russia: a Family Festivity
Column: GlavUpDK News
On June 12, Day of Russia, GlavUpDK held its traditional festivities at its affiliate Le Meridien Moscow Country Club at Nakhabino near Moscow. This time the festivities took place under the motto the Year of the Family which has been declared in Russia. Thanks to the organizers of the event, the holiday proved to be a truly family celebration and confirmed that supporting the family is one of the national priorities in today’s Russia.
Welcoming the guests, among whom there were Russian officials, heads of diplomatic missions with their spouses, scientists, cultural figures, and sports functionaries, the Director General of GlavUpDK, I.I. Sergeyev, noted that the circle of friends and partners who come to the Russia Day festivities in Nakhabino is growing with every year. Emphasizing the important role the family traditionally plays in Russia, the speaker drew the attention of those present to the traveling exhibition of sculptures “The Nation’s Unity Lies in the Unity of the Family” displayed in one of the rooms of the Park Hotel. The 2005 First All-Russia competition for the best sculpture Parents was the beginning of a unique project of the Yekaterinburg Art Foundation. In the words of the foundation’s Director General, Sergey V. Titlinov, the theme family in all its manifestations – the parents’ home, being in love, awaiting and bringing up a child, elderly parents – proved so near to Russian sculptors that they decided to mount a traveling exhibition of the works entered in the competition. Since then the exhibition of works by sculptors hailing from Yekaterinburg, Belgorod, Izhevsk, Ufa, Voronezh, Moscow, Grozny and other places has been shown in 23 Russian cities and got the support of S.M. Mironov, Chairman of the Federation Council. It so happened that the exhibition was only brought to the capital’s region for the first time for the Nakhabino festivities which has turned out to be something like a “dress rehearsal” for its display at the Federation Council scheduled for the fall of this year. It is quite likely that the project of the Yekaterinburg Art Foundation will go international at some point in the future. During the festivities, the ambassadors of Vietnam, Yemen, Egypt, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and some other countries took a great interest in the exhibition.
A concert featuring a remarkable duo, the singer and actor Anton Makarsky and his wife Victoria Morozova, continued the family theme. They sang both traditional Russian songs and modern hits.
Following the official part of the evening, the guests headed for the entertainment area by the lake where an improvised amusement park had been set up. The grown-ups and kids were in for thrilling games whose winners received prizes - cute stuffed toys - for their victories in table football and hockey, mini-bowling, “rodeo,” and other contests. The lovers of high speed got carried away with the radio-controlled toy cars races, while the guests who like to bet watched the mouse races with the grand prix being some tasty cheese. Connoisseurs of the beautiful could display their skill in the graffiti competition “May there always be sunshine.” The delicious Nestlé ice cream, cotton candy and “Petushok” (Cockerel) drops that elicited the admiration of the young fest participants and nostalgic reminiscences of their parents also contributed to the holiday atmosphere. The grown-up guests took full advantage of the beverages offered by the companies Diageo and Parliament. Moreover, the Ford Motors Company, the TVEL Corporation as well as the companies Pepsico Holdings and Cheil Communications Rus made a contribution of their own to organizing the festivities.
The concert program that evening, too, turned out to be varied and entertaining. The performers appearing on the big stage at the lake took turns and were invariably enthusiastically applauded by the audience. During the performance of the 1970s hits by Stas Namin’s famous group “Tsvety” (Flowers), many men invited their female companions to dance. The evening party wound up with fireworks that illuminated the sky and with the dance program “Foreign Variety Melodies and Rhythms.”
Yulia Volkova.
Photos by Alexander Bibik.
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