On 4 and 5 May, the largest and most colourful spring gardening event – the Latvian Plant Parade – will celebrate its twentieth birthday at Svētku laukums in Sigulda.
The event will feature plant growers from Latvia only, promoting and showcasing the national plant-growing industry and honouring those who work in it. As usual, this year's Latvian Plant Parade will bring together around 300 participants, among them plant growers from every region of the country, making it the largest national plant fair. Latvian craftspeople and local food producers will also be there with their beautiful and delicious surprises, along with representatives of garden supply and machinery manufacturers.
On 5 May at 11.00, the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Latvia, Armands Krauze, will visit and greet the Latvian Plant Parade, and will also open the charity auction of rare plants.
The anniversary Plant Parade will be brightened on both days of the event by a bog trail, created in cooperation with the Latvijas Nacionālā kūdras biedrība. It will offer informative stories about how peat forms, how it is used and what happens to it afterwards, as well as games and attractions for younger and older visitors to the Plant Parade, in cooperation with Riga Zoo.
Visitors and participants will also be treated to three exhibitions. The first, “The profile of the Latvian gardener”, will show what the Latvian gardener is like and what typical Latvian plant nurseries look like compared with those in other countries. The second will be a photo exhibition dedicated to the event's twentieth anniversary; we invite our visitors to take part by sending in photographs from past Latvian Plant Parades, noting which one it was, and we will have beautiful and tasty prizes ready for those who do. The third exhibition will be devoted to peat, where we will present the first results for peat substrates with various additives, such as wood fibre, straw and reeds.
This year there will also be awards for participants – for the most active and engaging promotion of the Plant Parade on social media, and for the stands decorated most beautifully and most fittingly for the anniversary. One of the prizes will be a beautiful painting of the Plant Parade by Kristīne Kutepova, a graduate of the bachelor's and master's painting programmes at the Visual Art Department of the Art Academy of Latvia, inspired by last year's event, where the artist took part with her exhibition “Mazdārziņi”.
We would remind you that entry to the event and parking are free of charge, and that our helpers will be on hand to carry plants to the plant cloakroom and from there to visitors' cars. To find the event location, we recommend using the “Waze” navigation app.
The 20th Latvian Plant Parade is organised by the “Stādu un kūdras inovāciju fonds” foundation in cooperation with the Stādu audzētāju biedrība and Sigulda Municipality.
The 20th Latvian Plant Parade will offer:
Plants grown in Latvia
A plant auction
A plant cloakroom in cooperation with the Līgatne adventure park “Zeit”
A fair of craftspeople and small-scale food producers, garden supplies and machinery
Exhibition stands created by plant growers
Kalsnava Arboretum will delight children and adults alike with a variety of entertaining and educational games
In Sigulda, visitors will have the chance to enjoy a ride down the toboggan run, a trip on the cable car, rides in little cars for the youngest visitors, and the panoramic wheel (paid attractions)
ENTRY to the event and PARKING for the whole family FREE OF CHARGE