Concerts, Night Runs and Cucumbers

The weather isn’t ideal, but cultural life, broadly defined, is hot this weekend in and around the Russian capital. Here is a troika of truly wonderful, unusual, and fun events you could join on Saturday.

For love and peace

On Saturday the 18th-century Apothecary Garden will be rocking a multi-format festival or electronic music, performances, art installations, and experimental theater. From 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. you can enjoy the concerts, dancing and theatrical performances outdoors, and from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the action moves inside the hothouses. Come to hear groups like Stavroz, YokoO, Feathered Sun, BONDI, Viken Arman, GeJu, Betelgaze, and Gorje Hewek & Izhevski.  The theater program includes a poetry jam directed by Alexei Zolotovitsky and a sit-com based on a play by Lyuba Strizhak.

Apothocary Garden, 26 Prospekt Mira, Bldg 1, Prospekt Mira and Sukharevskaya metro. For more information see the event site here.  

Night run

After a few hours of warm-up on the Apothecary Garden dance floor, head across town to Luzhniki for the Moscow Marathon’s annual Night Run. This 10K race begins at 10:30 p.m. and follows a comfortable flat route along the embankment. It’s not too late to enter — see information on the site below — and never to late to stand on the sidelines and cheer the runners on. If you’re not a runner or a fan, stay away, especially if you have the idea of driving around the city center. 

For more information about this and other races, see the site. 

The World-Famous Cucumber Festival

If for some reason Moscow’s offerings don’t speak to you, then make reservations to attend the annual Cucumber Festival in Suzdal. Concerts, dances, games, contests, art shows, and — of course — barrels and piles and jars and crocks of cucumbers, prepared in more ways than you can imagine. In between munching on local cukes, you can visit the town’s magnificent outdoor historical museum, monasteries, churches, and town arcade. There are plenty of guest houses and mini-hotels, lots of restaurants and cafes, and many people dressed up as cucumbers. Don’t miss it.

For more information, see the cucumber festival site here.