Bulgaria Traditional Rose Festival Held in Kazanluk

Sofia News Agency

The traditional "Rose Festival" in Kazanluk reached its culmination Sunday with a parade through the town's main street.

The festival is being held for the 40th time in Kazanluk.

The parade started at noon from the town square "Sevtopolis" and was as a tradition lead by a group of kukers from the village of Turia. (Kukers are costumed men performing traditional Bulgarian rituals to scare away evil spirits.)

Before the parade a Rose Queen title and a Best Photographer award are presented each year as part of the festival's agenda.

The "Rose Festival" attracts many tourists from Bulgaria and abroad and is dedicated to world famous Bulgarian oleaginous rose producing the valuable rose oil.

The leader of the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NMSP) and former PM and Tsar Simeon Saxe-Coburg was an official guest of the festival. He arrived in Kazanluk on an invitation extended by the town's mayor.

The local radio station "Vis Vitalis" presented Simeon Saxe-Coburg with a special award for his contribution to the town and the "Valley of Tsars" project.

The award was the result from a poll taken among the residents of the town who designated the top 15 individuals with most contributions to the project and the reconstruction of "Sevtopolis".

"The Valley of the Tsars" project is on exhibit at the town's historical museum "Iskra" (Spark). The project started in 2005 with BGN 3,5 M granted by the then "Saxe-Coburg" cabinet.

The main goal of the project is the restoration of the Thracian town of Sevtopolis from the bottom of the "Koprinka" dam. The town was submerged in the 50's when the Communist government ordered the building of the dam.

The project also provides for the construction of infrastructure that will allow to connect the many archaeological sites in the area.