The Apple Festival of the Sharkovshchyna district has been recognized as the best image event in event tourism
The festival "Apple Spas - A Piece of Sikora's Soul" of the Sharkovshchyna district was recognized as the best image event in the field of event tourism and territory promotion at the competition of creative works on territory marketing of the international forum "Image of the Republic of Belarus: Creating and Implementing Projects". This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the Deputy Head of the Department of Education, Sports and Tourism of the Sharkovshchyna District Executive Committee, Natalia Oreshkova.
"As event tourism has been actively developing in Belarus, we have made our traditional local festival "Apple Spas - A Piece of Sikora's Soul" the object of promotion. It takes place in August in the village of Alashki, where the famous Belarusian gardener-breeder Ivan Sikora was born and raised. He was one of the first in Europe to develop methods for treating and rejuvenating fruit trees. Apples in Belarus are as much a branded fruit as, for example, plums and cherries, perhaps even more popular. Apple festivals are held in many countries – Sweden, the USA, Kazakhstan, France, Australia, Russia, Latvia. Belarus does not yet have an "Apple" brand, and Sharkovshchyna is ideally suited for the implementation of an interesting idea," explained Natalia Oreshkova the essence of brand positioning.
The village of Alashki is home to the only memorial museum of Sikora, which collects and preserves materials about the scientist's research activities, his correspondence with Tolstoy, Prishvin, and Mashara. The house-museum where the gardener lived has been opened. The museum grounds feature a 2.6-hectare garden (about 600 fruit trees), and a nursery for the development and sale of Sikora's apple and pear varieties, which are considered the best in taste and technological qualities among Belarusian apple varieties. During his lifetime, Ivan Sikora devoted much time to creating an apple variety with increased frost resistance. The variety was named in his honor - "Pamyat Sikory" (Sikora's Memory), and gardeners figuratively call the fruits of this variety "apples of the 21st century." Therefore, district representatives position the festival as a calling card of Sharkovshchina and the most unusual cultural event in the Vitebsk region in August to attract potential tourists and increase the participation of the local population in the region's life. And the contest judges appreciated the idea, as well as the taste of Sikora's apples.
About 40 creative works were submitted to the contest organizers from educational institutions, research centers, consulting agencies, web studios, travel agencies, enterprises, executive committees, public organizations, and so on. All works were evaluated in two nominations: "Promotion of Cities and Regions" and "Tourism," as well as three sub-nominations: "Socio-cultural Projects," "Investment Video," and "Significant Events for Belarus." On November 28, 5 finalists were selected, who presented their projects at the forum. Among them were presentations on the promotion of the cities of Lida and Brest, and tourism and event projects for the promotion of the Rossony district, Sharkovshchina, and the farmstead of Bulatovo. All finalists had previously won in their respective nominations. Following the results of the entire competition, the jury awarded "Svetly Yablochny Spas" (Bright Apple Savior) an honorable third place. The first place was won by a project from the city of Lida, and the second place by the city of Brest.
The international forum "Image of the Republic of Belarus: Creating and Implementing Projects" was held in Minsk for the fifth time. From December 4 to 6, participants communicated and developed new concrete projects for the development of investments, tourism, cities and regions, and the country. The forum was organized by the Strategic Development Center "Marketing Systems". The forum gathered more than 150 participants.
Ekaterina Knyazeva