Omsk City Day is a holiday beloved by all citizens. It is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated events of each year.
Holiday program
What date is the day of the city in Omsk? There is no definite answer to this question, since it is customary to celebrate the holiday on the day falling on the first Saturday of August. Therefore, the date of the celebration is different each year. As for the festivities, there are both traditional cultural events held from year to year, and parts of the program that take place only on a certain anniversary of the city.
One of the annual events on this day is the parade of sailing yachts at the confluence of the two great Siberian rivers Irtysh and Omi. Both professionals of this sport and young students of sports sections take part in it. During the parade, the Irtysh River is filled with colorful sails to the horizon. Sometimes, as part of this event, the crew of the famous Siberia yacht departs for the next voyage.
Musical events
At concert venues organized in the open air in parks and public gardens of the city, as well as in the historical center, performances of musical groups of the city continue all day. On the birthday of the city of Omsk, musical solo artists and musical groups such as virtuoso guitarist Timur Timirbaev, the Muset accordion ensemble, the Lada folk instrument orchestra, the Pine Ridge rock band, the Omsk Philharmonic soloists and many others usually bring their musical congratulations to their beloved city other representatives of the Omsk music scene.
At the Tara Gate every year on this day a festival of copyright songs is held. Omsk authors, performers and bards from other cities of the country are performing here.
Fanfare over the Irtysh
In recent years, Omsk regularly hosts a brass band festival on City Day. This festival of unusual music opens with a catwalk, which is demonstrated by each of the participants in this event.
After that, the musicians of the orchestras parade from Cathedral Square along Lenin Street and cross the Om River at the Jubilee Bridge. On this, the parade of groups ends and the gala concert begins, at which all the groups participating in the parade perform with a 2-hour concert program. Sometimes the stage on which the concert takes place is located near the monument to Lenin, and sometimes on the left bank of Omi, while the audience is located on the slope of the right bank. This arrangement of the stage is very successful, because viewers have the opportunity to admire the small boats passing by to the sounds of beautiful music.
The sound of the bands and the musical genres that they present to the audience during the celebration of Omsk City Day are striking in their diversity. Here you can also see incendiary numbers of the only Uralband dancing pop orchestra in Russia and listen to throat singing accompanied by a brass band from the Republic of Tyva, combining elements that seem incompatible at first glance.
Unique events
Some events held on Omsk City Day are unique events, as they are held only once and are not widely advertised in the media. So once in the late nineties several dozens of citizens walking on the territory of the Omsk fortress had a chance to visit the basement, where a powder warehouse was located several centuries ago. This room was open to visitors only that day. Usually, the entrance for ordinary citizens there is closed. Only excursions with distinguished guests visit the warehouse. Among such guests was at the end of the last century Solzhenitsyn and a number of other cultural figures.
Another noteworthy event among those that do not happen every day, and not even every year, happened on Omsk City Day in 2016. Then the interior of the Tara Gate was open to visitors. A narrow staircase in two spans, located in the thickness of the column, leads to a medium-sized hall with small windows overlooking Tarskaya Street, which is located above the gate arch. This hall houses a small museum with exhibits from the history of the city of Omsk.
Omsk theatrical
Sometimes on the Day of the city of Omsk a street theater festival is held. This event, as a rule, is of great interest to both the smallest viewers and the adult audience. Comic numbers with the participation of clowns, eccentric musical numbers, games with the townspeople cause a lot of positive emotions among numerous visitors.
Bright ending of the holiday
Among the annual celebrations of the celebration of Omsk City Day is the festive fireworks, which are launched from one or several barges, anchored closer to the left bank of the Irtysh. Usually it starts at ten or eleven o'clock in the evening and lasts 10-20 minutes. At the end of this colorful fire action, public transport buses that take visitors to different parts of the city are served at public transport stops within walking distance of the promenade.
Every year on Omsk City Day, the number of celebrations exceeds one hundred units. The brightest of them remain in the memory of residents and guests for a long time. Last year, Omsk celebrated its 300th birthday. This city anniversary was one of the most grandiose holidays in its history. The triumph, which was expected for a long time, and which, no doubt, met these expectations.