The Party’s Back: Balkan Summer Festivals Return

In a mood of eager anticipation, in early June 2021 the Albanian seaside town of Shengjin opened its doors to locals and international visitors alike for the Unum Festival, the first big-scale event held in the region since March 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown started. The festival hosted 50 international and local music acts over five days.

Visitors had waited for a whole year, scarred by the coronavirus, to be "one with the four elements of nature that characterize the concept of the festival - the sand, the pines, the sea and the mountains", organisers said, meaning without COVID-19-related restrictions.

This summer will be long remembered in the region as a restart for normal life, including most of its international summer festivals.

However, depending on each country's measures, attending some festivals in the region will still require a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination. For example, Montenegro will only host the Sea Dance Festival under strict measures, which means proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test.

Other festivals, such as the Sunland Festival in Bulgaria, Defected Croatia and the Ohrid Summer Fest in North Macedonia, have not restricted safety requirements to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, some film festivals, such as Anibar and Dokufest in Kosovo, and the Istanbul Film Festival in Turkey, have returned but have moved partially online.

The same goes for Serbia's summer festivals, including one of the biggest in the region, EXIT, whose organisers published guidelines saying that people will be required to confirm that they have been vaccinated to enter festival, or are willing to receive free of charge antigen tests at the entrance.

No restrictions at some events<...