Visitor numbers were highest on Saturday, when 50,000-60,000 people came, said festival director István Márta. He added that just 60 of 1,260 events on the festival programme had to be cancelled because of a budget shortfall.
Many of the most popular events attracted four or five times the number of people allowed into the venues, Márta said. Especially popular were the world music events held in the quarry of Öcs, the performances on Taliándörögd's cloister stage by foreign performers, the play entitled I am a Little Boy with Glasses directed by Réka Pelsőczy, and the more than hundred children's performances put on by the Kolibri Theatre.
The bands Amadinda and Muzsikás again received standing ovations this year, and the rock stage in Monostorapáti was especially popular among youngsters, Márta said. A performance by pianists Béla Lakatos Szakcsi and György Vukán was a "fantastic jazz event," he added.
Many festival goers saw some of the more than 70 exhibitions open during the period. As many as 25,000 visited an exhibition of musical instruments at the Ethnographic Museum in Vigántpetend.
In spite of the festival's success, the pullout of several of its sponsors means the organisers will be unable to pay fees to the villages which hosted the events, Márta said.
The festival's events play out at venues in the villages of Kapolcs, Taliándörögd, Vigántpetend, Monostorapáti, Pula, Öcs and Nagyvázsony.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
