The Balkan Festa offered a glimpse of how many repatriates from the former Yugoslavia had settled in Bolesławiec County. The event took place on Sunday on the sports field in Bolesławice. Ensembles preserving Balkan traditions and culture performed on stage, as did groups that play Balkan music on occasion. The star of the Balkan Festa was the Greek band Izoi.
During breaks between performances, visitors could hear short interviews with repatriates. They spoke about their difficult, harsh, but also idyllic life abroad, and about joyful and sad moments. They said that neither they nor their parents had ever forgotten that they were Polish. On a special board, the repatriates wrote down the places they came from or where their families came from.
A highly entertaining and spectacular element of the Sunday event was the rooster-catching contest. Four men entered the competition. Their task was to catch four roosters. The first three were quickly caught by the contestants, but the last one could not be caught before the end of the event. It walked around the stage, then flew up and sat high in a tree, to the delight of the crowd. Event participants enjoyed themselves and danced until late at night.
(information from B. Widera, the Municipal Culture and Sports Centre in Bolesławiec with its registered office in Kruszyn)