Delicious blueberry jam but in fact much, much more – at the end of this week the Third Blueberry Festival will populate the breathtakingly beautiful locality of the Ambaritsa Chalet with the lovers of the mountain’s gifts. On Friday the most impatient tourists in the Troyan section of the Central Balkan Range will enjoy a warm welcome with partying under the blueberry-dark and starry skies of Ambaritsa.

“The idea is to give the mountain back to people and to show them what authentic mountain tourism is about”, argues Yorgo Petsas, one of the festival’s organizers. “And besides, we want to support yet another mountain guesthouse that the state has abandoned. All money raised at the festival is to be used by Ambaritsa Chalet. For example, there is no electricity in it and it needs an investment in a system of solar batteries. We work based on the voluntary principle. The place is hard to access, and everything is carried on horseback – we have a nice hors, Borko, who helps a lot with carrying things needed.”

Three years ago, Emma, the new manager of Ambaritsa Chalet shared her idea of launching a Blueberry Festival, and the group of friends around FREERIDERZ decided to give it a chance. Today the stock-taking is full of a myriad jars with aromatic jam but also with substantial financial support for the famous guesthouse. This year’s festival has a diverse program of events – from traditional blueberry picking to film screenings and concerts in different music genres.

“What is new this year is a stronger music program”, Yorgo Petsas explains. "Well, of course, this is not a music festival – people seem a bit bored by such festivals and they need something different for a change. So, we give more weight to various workshops. For example we have a workshop in folk dancing, for making natural cosmetics and raw sweets, and also a workshop for making the celebrated Ambaritsa mekitsi cakes. The big name among musicians will be flutist Theodosii Spassov who will appear together with young performer Ivan Shopov with whom Theodosii has a joint project, Бalkansky. Other interesting guest musicians include the Avigeya formation and Two Cities One World, the latter run by two Bulgarians who live abroad.”

After so much activity in the clean mountain air, appetite for the Ambaritsa fried cakes surges. The organizers have vowed to reveal the secret of the goody that goes best with blueberry jam and is regularly served for breakfast at Ambaritsa Chalet. Participants in the workshop will be divided into two groups and will compete in making the jam and cakes. 

At the end of the day though, what matters is cultivating humility and respect for the mountain:

“For us it is paramount to make sure that after the festival is over nature should remain untouched by human litter”, Yorgo Petsas says. “And I dare claim that from among many festivals that I have attended, we excel in the way we do that. Last year for instance we did not use even a single product made of plastic. People are helpful in the process of cleaning - and it has become a pleasure, not a duty. It’s great that the mindset of Bulgarians has started to change nature-wise.”

English Daniela Konstantinova
Photos courtesy of the festival’s organizers