VILNIUS - A quick glace around Vilnius is all it takes to see how environmentally unfriendly the city has become.
Unused bike paths wind through the streets. Colorful domes that are supposed to be full of recyclables dot the cityscape. Inside the giant recycle bins, however, is a load of plastic bags full of regular rubbish.
Fortunately, someone is now trying to change all this 's and let us all have a bit of fun while doing it.
The Atvirdangis (Open Sky) festival is due to kickoff on June 13. For two days, music, education, sport, art and a lot more will be rolled into one in one of Vilnius's most lovely settings 's the Pavilniai Regional Park.
The festival is an effort to get people in Lithuania to change their attitude toward living a healthy lifestyle in a healthy environment. Seminars, concerts and classes will fill the weekend with excitement, fun and learning.
"We are trying to get people to change the way they think to make [Vilnius] a better place," said Salomeja Aliukaite, communications 'minister' for the festival.
The festival organizers are trying to convey the feeling of an ecological and healthy republic, and hence refer to themselves as "ministers." Within this special nation there is a "prime minister," "minister of communications," "minister of events" and more.
A major goal for the organizers is to get more citizens of Vilnius to ride their bikes on a regular basis. By riding bikes, the organizers say residents of Vilnius will benefit themselves in many ways.
"There is a terrible traffic problem in Vilnius with cars and there is so much pollution 's we want people to ride bikes for health and the environment," Aliukaite said.
Part of their commitment to ecological transport is a sizable discount on entry to the festival if you arrive on a bicycle. For those who don't own a bicycle or cannot ride one, the same discount applies for arrival by canoe or kayak.
The "entertainment minister" will keep visitors happy during the festival by bringing some of the best bands in Lithuania together to play throughout the events. There will be a wide range of music.
"We are not trying to be a pop festival and we are not trying to be an alternative music festival either 's we are just bringing you good music from Lithuania," the communications minister said.
Despite the fact that seminars will be held in Lithuanian, Aliukaite said a wide range of activities would ensure that foreigners will not be bored.
Mothers will be happy to know that there will be a creche where they can leave their children while they enjoy the surroundings. In the creche, children will be taught how to recycle, how to sort rubbish into categories and other fun activities.
The Pavilniai Regional Park is a historic place that exhibits the best things of Lithuanian nature. Natural and partly natural landscape occupies over 75 percent of the territory of the regional park. There are over 750 different plant species that have been found in the park, some of which are rare and all of which are on display for visitors and explorer-types.
Pavilniai Regional Park is important not only for the natural landscape, but also because it contains several interesting archaeological objects. The most important of these are the Puckoriai mound and the remains of a stone-age settlement, the Rokantiskes castle hill and numerous burial mounds.
Atvirdangis festival
June 13-15
www.atvirdangis.lt
