3 days of incredible experience on the first polar festival in Russia have led to one conclusion – Russians do know how to hold the balance between the seemingly incompatible activities! They also know how to organize international events aimed to demonstrate this to everyone!

Fiesta in Russian style
3 days of incredible experience on the first polar festival in Russia have led to one conclusion – Russians do know how to hold the balance between the seemingly incompatible activities! They also know how to organize international events aimed to demonstrate this to everyone!
Over 80 sport, artistic, educating, creative and entertaining events took place during ‘Derzhi Balans’ international festival. The name translates like ‘hold the balance’, what crystally mirrors what has happened. It was a really hot time period for two small polar cities from 17thto 19thof August which left a long-lasting impression on all – participants, hosts and organizers.

The scope of activities was smartly developed for all ages and groups of people so that no one had time to get bored. On the contrary, the guests were literally torn apart by so many appealing events that filled out these three days.

Some events, such as yoga on SUP boards on water, appeared to be quite exotic and added a pinch of adrenaline to the regular session.
Other events included darts competitions, SUP relay race, movies, workshops with famous Russian actors and authors and even aqua make up for keeping the spirits high.

Youcan judge the heat of engagement around SUP activities by one single fact – wetsuits had no chance to get dry and people were passing them to each other in wet condition. The line in front of the SUP stand included all ages from 12 to 55 and some of them have experienced SUP sports for the first time and inevitably fell in love with it.

And all these activities were topped off by disco time at night, which combined live concerts, club music and dance music.

Festival’s own currency
The prices for the winners of competitions were quite unique too. Considering that one of the general partners was Nornickel company, a new “currency” was invented just for this festival, called nicklettes. After getting nicklettes for the reward, the winners could have exchanged them for anything they like in the souvenir shop.

The festival’s mission was to show not only many sides of Russia, but also the possibility of living your life to its fullest potential. This mission has been more than successfully completed. Uniting music, film, literature and sports was something that many of us haven’t seen or heard about before!

Warm welcome
Despite some prejudices about Russians living in the north, many guests were surprised to see warm and friendly people living in the polar region who sincerely were happy to welcome everyone.

By the end of the day, people had just one wish – to prolong this festival. So, if anything above has sounded interesting enough then go ahead and subscribe to the official Facebook community in order to stay up-to-date and visit the festival in the next year.

It’s also recommended to plan your visit for longer than just 3-4 days if you are willing to explore the true Russian nature, full of miracles, crystal lakes, wild rivers and comfortable climate during this part of the year.