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The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway Rolf Baltzersen was the highest-ranking guest at this year's Feast of Potatoes, which took place on October 11 on Central Beach. The event brought together more than 90 potato growers from the country and many visitors who, in addition to the abundance of varieties, enjoyed the free 200 kg of french fries and 300 liters of beer provided by the sponsors: brewery "Sofia", "Royal Pateitos", Anton Radoychev, "Veli 97", "Jobs".
Official words at the opening were uttered by Mayor Angel Toporchev, the director of the Jobs project, Taska Gabrovska, and Valeri Totevski, who read a greeting on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture M. Dikme. All of them recognized the importance of potato production as the main livelihood of the region and welcomed the idea of such a holiday, which 4 years ago. was born in Velingrad thanks to the efforts of the Center for Business and Information, the Regional Development Agency, the municipality and the established here national Association of Potato Growers.
The accompanying festival program was attended by the Brass Orchestra and the cheerleading squad, the ensembles "Chepino" and "Zdravche-venche", children from the music school "Zvanche", the singer Rumyana Dilova. In parallel, the meeting-discussion "Material Production - Strategic Industry for Mountain Areas" was held to present the main problems and achievements of the industry. The day before, the members of the Association of Bulgarian Potato Growers, chaired by Atanas Birnikov, held their regular annual meeting.
Like every year, the Golden Potato Awards were given out. The prize for the largest potato was given to the company "Presens", for the most attractive offering - Zmeica village, for the best arranged stand - "Bonero", for variety variety - the potato growers from Sarnitsa, who showed 24 varieties, for the largest quantities of potatoes sold during the holiday - "Selika - Ilia Grancharov" (420 kilograms). The jury decided not to award a prize for the most visited stand because there was a lot of interest from visitors to all over 30 stands.
The Feast of Potatoes'2003 will also be remembered for the large number of mayoral candidates who did not miss the occasion to meet with voters.
Elena Baeva