It was jollily on a hot August day at Tsypino – the “Ilyinsky Festival” was opened at noon. But people walked along a large area of the museum complex where the event took place long before its official opening. They bought various souvenirs and hand-made articles at the fair. Those who came to Tsypino for the first time walked around and took pictures.
However, as soon as masters of ceremonies Svetlana and Maxim appeared on the scene, attention of all guests was turned to them. Yevgeny Kivelev, chief organizer of the event, employee of the Museum of Dionisy’s Frescoes, welcomed everybody; then boatman Sergey Tokarev loaded a small canon and fired a shot and the holiday started.
This year’s “Ilyinsky Festival” became the most unusual one within the time of its holding. Probably, this is a secret of such a great inflow of people. Some of them came by car, the others got to Tsypino by bus.
Though the main events of the holiday took place on the stage, every corner of the museum complex was a hive of activity: the playground, the long table where guests could have tea with pies, the shore of Ilyinsky Lake, the Church of St. Prophet Elijah, the shadow of trees where Russian sighthounds were looking forward to an opportunity to hunt.
Several guests were lucky to receive prizes, for example: participants of the village lottery and men named Ilya. Besides, the winner of the contest for the most delicious berry pie was determined at the festival. Zinaida Appolonova baked the tastiest pie and was awarded the main prize.
The “Ilyinsky Festival” was continued with another event - the Festival of Traditional American Music - that started at 14:00. Thus, two cultures met at Tsypino on one day.
They couldn’t do without mentioning the events taking place in the world political arena at present. Greeting the guests on behalf of the local authorities, A.V. Yulin, first deputy head of the Kirillov district, said the famous words: “All things must pass, but music is eternal”. Bruce Turner, U.S. Consul General in St. Petersburg, noted in his speech: “It is a great honour for me to introduce to you the group of American musicians. We support such exchanges because they are very important for strengthening of the relations between Russia and the USA, especially, during some tensions between our countries as a result of the events happening in Ukraine. I am glad to welcome you at the concert of blues – an important part of American culture. You will listen to the music that also originated in the province, but in the American one, more than 100 years ago. Of course, it is not much in comparison with the history of the Ferapontov Monastery, but nevertheless blues is the music with deep roots going to the history of our country”.
The concert of “Willie J. Laws Band” captivated the spectators so much that sometimes it seemed as if they really got from the Russian province to the American one. Some of them were so inspired with this music that they started to dance. In spite of the notorious translation problems, the guests of different age and the musicians managed to understand each other and to maintain a dialogue during the performance. Many people didn’t miss an opportunity to buy T-shirts and CDs and to have their pictures taken with the members of the band.
