Holašovice Rural Festival

Two-day folk festival, which organizes the popular folk fair with a demonstration of both traditional and non-traditional handicrafts from all over the Czech Republic and also from Slovakia.

The Rural Festival is traditionally held in the picturesque South Bohemian village Holašovice, where tourists admire the so-called rustic Baroque style. Individual buildings, centered around a spacious village square, still stand in the same style that they were built in the second half of the 19th century. The village Holašovice, which is situated 14,5 km west of České Budějovice, was rightly included in a list of cultural and natural heritage UNESCO.

The festival will start in the costume parade at 10:00 am on Saturday 24th July. A great attraction of the festival is a presentation of original crafts and techniques, that in today overfull technological time, creates a very impressive show of skill and feeling for traditional folk production, which relates to long forgotten times. Demonstrations of handicrafts are performed by more than 230 craftsmen in folk costumes.

The fair is traditionally enriched with cultural events in the folk spirit. Rustic ensembles not only from the Czech Republic and international ensembles from sunny Croatia and France´s Brittany will be guests of this year´s festival. Therefore, visitors of Holašovice Festival have a chance to compare the diversity of cultures and learn about folk traditions and customs of each corner of our country and abroad. The Rural Festival in Holašovice is ranked among the most important folk festivals in the Czech Republic with international participation.

There will not be missing performances of singers, theatrical performances for children and adults and South Bohemian accordion players playing their favorite folk songs. The program will also diversify fencing tournaments, a culinary witchcraft with the chef Petr Stupka, a competition for the best South Bohemian cake, popular horse riding and attractive catching of carps from tubs into the hands.

Date of the event: July 24 – 25, 2010.