Meadow Festival of the Latvian Nature Foundation

The second Meadow Festival of the Latvian Fund for Nature (LFN) will take place throughout the day in Arkadija Park in Riga - a program of educational and entertaining activities to explore natural meadows and other habitats. The event will include various lectures and master classes, a fair of meadow products, as well as a concert by the band "Rahu The Fool". The focus of the LFN Meadow Festival is not only natural meadows, but also other ecosystems and various processes in nature, which visitors are invited to get to know, enjoy and explore together with nature experts and producers of natural meadow products. Entry to the event is free.

LFN botanist Rūta Sniedze-Kretalova says: "Visiting the Meadow Festival provides an opportunity to understand how closely human and nature interact. The meadows were formed by man managing nature, listening to it and learning from it. And so is the future of meadows and other ecosystems. We can exist together - restoring nature, changing the usual habits, getting to know the weightless importance of nature in our lives, discovering and supporting an ever-increasing range of meadow products and supporting those owners who already take care of meadows and the preservation of natural diversity!"

The meadow festival will start at 10.30, when the meadow products market will be opened, where you can buy meadow-grown beef, honey and other beekeeping products, goat's milk products, teas and cosmetics. At 11.00 and 12.00, visitors will be able to participate in a master class on wild plant seed collection led by LFN botanist Rūta Sniedze-Kretalova. Starting from 13.00, once an hour there will be an insect catching and research walk together with entomologist Voldemārs Spuņgis.

At the event representatives from LFN projects GrassLIFE2 and LIFE GoodWater IP will talk about natural meadows and waters, while pharmacist Vija Eniņa will lead a lecture about medicinal plants in Latvia. Visitors will also be able to create a meadow plant cover, build insect houses with representatives of the "Friend of the Bees" and participate in other activities.

At 16.00 there will be a lecture by University of Latvia researcher and meadow expert Solvita Rūsiņa on the importance of natural diversity, and at 18.00 – a landscape tour along Mārupīte. At the end of the event - 20.00 - the concert of the band "Rahu The Fool" will take place. The full program of the LDF Meadow Festival will be announced soon on the website of the Latvian Nature Foundation.

Photo: Latvian Fund for Nature