Tel Aviv comes to Riga for spectacular beach festival

A Tel-Aviv inspired beach festival takes place in Riga on August 1-3.

 The admission will be free. We invite residents and visitors of the city of Riga, families with children, young people, older people, entrepreneurs and all those interested in discovering, getting to know and enjoy Israel’s diverse cultural programme, the performance of numerous world-class bands and DJs, dancing till dawn, fashion shows, special culinary programme and tastings, children's and sports programmes, dancing master classes, and many other activities. Tel-Aviv is a non-stop city.

During the week before the festival opening everyone is welcome to participate in the events held in various locations in Riga, such as a week of Israeli films in “K.Suns” movie theatre, a charity concert at the Children's Clinical University Hospital with the organisation “Dr. Clown” and the performer Tal Kravitz. Master classes by Tel-Aviv famous chef and TV star will also take place. The schedule for the festival activities will be updated, flash mob surprises can be expected.

Each day of the festival will have a specific theme. Friday, 1 August is dedicated to tourism and business. To promote and encourage tourism and business cooperation between Tel-Aviv and Riga, Latvia and Israel, those interested will have the opportunity to participate in seminars, lectures, discussions, presentations, and other activities aimed at sharing knowledge and experience in the areas of tourism and opportunities for business development, innovation and technology. Entrepreneurs participating in the festival will be able to meet their partners in a special business café.

Saturday, August 2 is dedicated to culinary arts and fashion. Special culinary show and master classes with the participation of chefs from Israel and the Baltic countries will be held during the first half of the day. In the evening, before the music and dance programmes, there will be an opportunity to watch a unique fashion show. It will be attended by famous clothing and jewellery designers with their collections from Tel-Aviv and Riga. Also during the day a lecture and a discussion on the Israeli design will be held, as well as an exhibition featuring the works of Shenkar College students. The works have been created specifically for the festival exhibition; they were inspired by traditional Latvian clothing and jewellery, as well as architecture.

On August 1-2, a grand scale evening music programme and all-night dancing will take place in Riga. The event will be attended by the world-known Israeli bands, performers and DJs, such as Idan Raichel Project, “Orphaned Land”, “The Shuk, Tribal Dance, Yuval Dayan and the band, Oded Kafri, Tal Kravitz and others.

Sunday, August 3 is the family day of the festival, when a broad children’s, sports and cultural programme takes place, as well as food and drink tastings and other educational and recreational activities for families. For example, attendees will be able to touch the special kinetic sand, learn traditional Israeli dances and find out how to do something nice together with clowns from charitable organisations "Dream Doctors" (Israel) and "Dr. Clown" (Latvia), etc.

At the same time for the duration of the festival, the Children's and Sports areas will be available on the beach. There the children will be able to play in inflatable attractions, sunbathe with families and friends, swim and play one of the most popular sports – matkot, which is in emblematic of the Tel-Aviv coastal lifestyle. This is a game where everyone is a winner. The spectators will also be able to watch various sports exhibition performances, play mini-football, volleyball, chess, checkers, etc., as well as participate in freestyle wrestling master class. 

The festival is sponsored by The Baltic Times amongst others.