The mayor of Patras, Yiannis Dimaras , the president of community business “Patras Carnival” Konstantinos Trigos, the art director, Maria Kourampana and the director Panayiotis Fafoutis who will be coordinating the event, called everyone to celebrate the opening day of Patras Carnival on Saturday morning. The celebrations are expected to last until late at night.
In regards to preparations for this year’s carnival, the mayor of Patras said: “we managed with great effort to create a carnival without cutting any events. We fought to overcome many obstacles and keep this great institution of Patras alive and unchanged.”
In his optimistic message the mayor mentioned “we are ready to begin this great celebration and face the crisis with its many problems, the stress and uncertainty of everyday life.” Then he stressed the fact that the opening ceremony was organized by the city and is based on local resources and people who support Patras and its culture.
This year’s “twist,” is that on the opening day of Patras Carnival, all shops will be open until late night in order to contribute to the celebratory atmosphere and bring more people to the city.
Konstantinos Trigos said that the cost of this year’s opening day will reach 29,000 euros and he particularly spoke of the workers’ efforts in the carnival workshop, and of the community business that helped to organize the event.
Maria Kourmpana thanked all the artistic groups and clubs of the city that participate voluntarily in the celebration of Patras.
Panayiotis Fafoutis said that the original idea of an all-day outdoor festival downtown has been working great for years and will continue this year as well. Furthermore, he said that the Greek band “Melisses” will be part of the celebration, as well as the “Thanassis Tsipinakis” orchestra.
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