May 4 events guide for Rīga

On May 4, the day of Latvia's independence restoration, the Rīga municipality and NGOs have set up a broad range of events for Rīga residents and visitors to enjoy. 

The events will range from ceremonial to musical and creative, and just plain good fun.

You can also access this program on riga.lv.

Events timetable:

10:30–11:00 a flower laying ceremony at the Freedom Monument;

12:00–13:30 a marching performance by Latvian school brass bands at the Freedom (Brīvības) Square;

12:00–18:00 creative workshops "Create a Green Latvia!" at the Arkādijas Park and Latgales Park;

12:30–20:00 traditional folk garment showoff parade and concerts at the Rātslaukums square in Old Town. The festive parade of folks wearing folk costumes will go to the Freedom Monument between 13:20 and 14:00;

13:00–17:00 a creative workshop "You are Latvia" at the Vērmanes Garden;

13:00–17:00 'white tablecloth' picnic and souvenir workshop at the Lastādija culture garden (V. Purvīša Street 15);

15:00 "Citādi Ceļi" (Different Ways) concert at Rātslaukums square with Aija Vītoliņa, Atis Auzāns, Dagnis Roziņš, Katō, Mārtiņš Kanters, Raimonds Celms, Samanta Tīna, and others; at 17:00 Laimas Muzykanti will perform at the same venue, as well as Jauno Jāņu orķestris at 18:00 and Raxtu Raxti at 19:00;

16:00 "Latvian Folk Daughters" concert at the Ziemeļblāzma culture center;

16:00 Balsis Youth choir concert "For Latvia" at the Small Guild;

18:00 "Latvia's Moods/Sounds" concert at the VEF Culture Palace;

19:00 "Vācietis. Ziedonis. Jakovļevs" concert and poetry performance at the Imanta cultural center.

Other events

The ‘Costume of Honour’ (‘Godu tērps’) exhibition, will be presented in the windows of the Small Guild culture centre until May 10.

From May 1 at 10:00 until May 6 at 23:00, the Small Guild’s Facebook and YouTube accounts will feature the documentaries ‘Esplanāde’ and ‘Rainis: the People’s Poet’ (‘Tautas dzejnieks Rainis’) by the Ģilde folk film studio.

As usual in May, the city will be decorated for the 34th anniversary of the Restoration of the Independence of the Republic of Latvia, with red-white-red flags on street light poles, catenary line poles, masts, flag and design structures, and there will be specially-made design objects on display as well.

Starting from 10:00 on May 4 , at the Freedom Monument, everyone will be able to take part in the traditional, once-a-year creation of the ‘Latvia of Flower’ object, filling the outline of the map of Latvia with spring flowers, symbolically decorating and honoring Latvia on its holiday.

As reported earlier, a May 4 film marathon will take place at the cinema Splendid Palace and online worldwide.

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