Celebrating Independence With Beer

Independence Day has been changed. In the capital it was greeted by armor tracks, sonorous street concerts, and dazzling fireworks. Khreshchatyk hummed with activity the livelong day. Some actively hawked their wares, others bought them, and still others watched over it all. The main object of trade was beer.

In the evening one block after the other was greeted with street concerts. In Independence Square the festivities were organized by the Twenty-First Century for Ukraine Young People's Center and in Europe Square by Tavrian Games. One was sponsored by Slavutych and the other by Taller Beer. Both smelled strongly of advertising, with one onlooker dubbing it «performers for beer.» The chief organizer of the Independence Square concert, Oleksiy Kuzhelny, stated that 18 groups and 16 individual performers took part in his fete, around fifty people in toto, accompanied by over a thousand technical workers and forty support groups. All told, there were almost 1500 performers and support workers. The chief of the cultural administration of Kyiv, Oleksandr Bystrushkyn, announced that UAH 230,000 had been allocated for the festivities, 60,000 for Independence Square, accompanied by the essential aid of donors and advertising.