Moscow will celebrate its 860th anniversary and Day of Knowledge this weekend. Moscow authorities expect that 3.5 million people will pack the city for the more than 5,000 organized events.
To kick off the events, the Moscow's Deputy Chief of Consumer Market and Services Valentina Varfolomeyeva announced that on September 1 an entertaining event will be held at Teatralnyy Passage near the Metropol Hotel. Fifteen of the city's leading catering establishments and cooking schools will send teams to participate in a competition for the jury's best choice of dishes.
In addition, the 15th international waiters race with trays will be held in the course of the event. Sixty-five waiters from Moscow restaurants, café's and bars will run 300 meters around a loop at Teatralnyy Passage. The winner will get the chance to participate in the international competition of waiters in Paris and New York.
One of the main events of the celebrations will be the noon opening on Sept. 1 of the State History and Art Memorial Estate of Tsaritsyno in the southeast of the city, First Deputy Mayor Lyudmila Shvetsova told journalists on Monday.
"Almost 200 years ago this palace stood unfinished, and the landscape was absolutely horrendous. Now we have replanted and tidied up 550 hectares of territories on the memorial estate," Shvetsova said.
Another grand event will be The All-Russia Honey Fair, which will bring together thousands of manufacturers of the tasty goods from 59 regions of Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The event will run from September 1 to October 2.
The "Moskovskoye Vremya" theatrical event at Tverskaya Square is set to another great event to mark the capital's 860th anniversary. The play is to become a report on the history of the city, touching on all the historical events since Moscow's founding.
The well known animal theater, Ugolok Durova (The Corner of Durov) will open its 2007-2008 season one month earlier than usual due to Moscow City Day, announced the prefecture of the Moscow's Central administrative district. "It is a gift of actors to children by City Day." Additionally, the theater will celebrates the anniversary of the birthday of its founder Vladimir Leonidovicha Durov, who would be 145 years old. The first performance of the season will be on September 1.
Moscow - City of Friends action for invalids will take place on September 1 at Ostankino park. It is expected that 300 people - members, friends and partners of the inter-regional public organization Association of Youth Invalid Organizations, which initiated the event - will participate. The visitors will be able to ride attractions and have an excursion in the park.
The Moscow International Festival of Youth Competition Solntse Svetit Vsem (The Sun Shines on All) opened on August 28, and will wrap its activities on September 1. Performers from Russia and Belarus - aged 14 to 30 - who were winners of the international and regional competitions and festivals are taking part in the event. A competition of arts, crafts and graphic works titled Vozrozhdenie Narodnykh Promyslov (Revival of national crafts) is also a scheduled event of the festiva. The Sun Shines on All will culminate in a gala concert in the Moscow International Music Hall on September 1. The representatives of regional administrations of the cities of participants, together with the embassies of Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the military elite of the Russian Federation, deputies of Russia's State Duma, and professors from Moscow's leading high schools are all invited.
Songs and poetry devoted to Moscow will be played inside the capital's metro system on City Day, officials told The Moscow News.
The traditional city car race will be held on September 1-2, and 120 drivers are starting their engines. There will be contests for go-cart races for 7 to 12 years old, as well as cart racing for 8 to 16-year drivers and Junior class, where the drivers must be between 12 to 19 years old.
Three thousand service personnel will be working during the celebration: 80 percent of them are public catering establishments, 400 cafes and 350 waiters. There will be no alcohol sales in the city center or at other locations of mass gatherings. In addition, the security measures will be organized in such a way that no one will be permitted to bring any kind of goods in glass.
Finally, even a competition for the best clothes manufacturer will be held on September 1 for the Moscow Mayor's Cup.
It was calculated that the celebrations will cost each Muscovite 1 ruble 67 kopeks, Lyudmila Shvetsova told journalists on Monday. Of the funds, 18.5 million rubles came from the city budget, while sponsors provided the lion share of 48 million rubles. To prevent possible terrorist and extremist actions or other disorder, more than 21,000 of police officers and soldiers will be on duty. The press service of the main police department of Moscow stated that all public utility facilities will be inspected to prevent any terrorist threat, and all schools will be inspected with bomb-sniffing dogs. The center of the city will be closed to traffic and parked cars will be banned from the streets. Tow trucks will be on the lookout for vehicles parked too close to the event site. Tough security measures will be in place between August 30 and September 2, when the festivities will officially come to the end
Last but not least, the intensive monitoring of illegal migrants will occur throughout the city. Officials aim to deport all illegal immigrants they will be able to find before the holidays begin, according to the office of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. By the way, the number of these individuals is estimated between 200,000 and one million in the Russian capital.
By Sergei Dmitriyev
