It was held in the Sakar Special Protection Area and started with a Fertility and Harvest Festival in the village of Levka. There local producers and farmers presented their products, and many of the guests of the event had also brought various home-made dishes and drinks, fruits and vegetables from the garden, and the representatives of the Primary school "Otets Paisiy" greeted our guests with local traditional songs.
During the event, our guests had the opportunity to get acquainted with the "Live Exhibition" - models of endangered birds, whose habitat is in the biologically-rich "European Green Belt" area and the highlight in it were of course the Lesser Kestrels.
Our official guests were representatives of the Municipality of Svilengrad, the Historical Museum in the town, and the Primary school "Hristo Botev" in the village of Levka and the Turkish organization "Association of Back to Nature Youth and Sport Club". And a lady from A1 telecom arrived especially for the event, as part of the TimeHeroes initiative to recruit volunteers, company employees for various causes.
The event was hosted by the Center for Environmental Protection Activities of the project "Life for Lesser Kestrel" LIFE19 NAT/BG/001017, implemented by Green Balkans and financed by the LIFE program of the EU.
All exhibitors, over 20, received a certificate for their participation, and after tasting the exhibited products, we went on our way. We visited several rock churches and dolmens, explored the rich natural diversity of the area, stopped at the "Granitsa" Inn in the village of Shtit, where we tried traditional Sakar dishes. Along the way, we also freed over 30 tortoises, patients of the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Center.
The event aimed to promote the international European Green Belt initiative, which covers territories with preserved nature, lifestyle and culture. Due to the limited access to the border areas falling on both sides of the former "Iron Curtain" from the recent past, these areas have preserved their authentic appearance, and at the same time remain little known to the general public. Traditionally, Green Belt Day is celebrated in a number of countries covered by the Initiative in the period 18-24 September with a series of events. The Fertility Festival was also associated with the European Heritage Days and is included in the event calendar of the Svilengrad municipality.
We thank the participants and guests of the event - Svilengrad Municipality, Svilengrad Historical Museum, "Otets Paisiy" PS, Levka village - "Priroden Park Sakar", Association of Back to Nature Youth and Sport Club, "Granitsa" Inn, BulNaMe, Levka family farm, Dervishka mogila sheep farm, Biosakar EOOD, Nikolay Kolev - producer of grapes from the village of Levka, producers of homemade cheeses and yellow cheeses from the village of Studena, producers of homemade butter from sheep's milk from Studena, Petar Vasilev - vegetable producer from the village of Levka, Horemag "Old Acacia" from the village of Studena, wine producers "Lozev vino" and others.
