Tbilisoba city festival moving to TV broadcast for pandemic safety
Tbilisoba attracts thousands of citizens and visitors to streets to celebrate the city's history and cultural customs. Photo: Nino Alavidze/agenda.ge.
Tweet 
Share
This year's Tbilisoba city festival, an open-air gathering of citizens and visitors of Georgia's capital city to mark its history and cultural delights, will not have a customary run in streets, switching instead to a televised format for its performances as a precaution from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Kakha Kaladze made the announcement at Wednesday's meeting of the city government, revealing that his office had made the decision at the meeting of the Interagency Coordination Council earlier the same day.
Human life and safety for health is the principal, most important [factor] for us, therefore Tbilisoba events will be cancelled. We will be working with the [city hall] culture division to only plan concerts broadcast live to citizens through television" - Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze
Tbilisoba celebrations are customarily held on the first weekend of October through exhibitions, theatre troupe performances, music concerts, craft displays and tasting of local cuisine and wine in the streets.
A number of cultural events and festivals have been cancelled entirely, or moved to online format, due to the pandemic circumstances throughout the year. Even though Georgia reported sub-20 daily confirmed cases of the virus for most of the summer, the numbers have increased this month, and 45 new cases were identified on Tuesday.
Georgia has reported a record 57 new cases of the coronavirus earlier today. Medical Director of Tbilisi Infectious Disease Hospital Marina Ezugbaia said that five new patients contracted the virus from the cluster of candy shop Dona in Batumi in the Adjara region of Georgia, 14 other patients were also infected in Batumi, 18 had contact with infected individuals, four patients have travel history in Adjara, three cases are ‘imported’ of which two are truck drivers and the source of infections has not been identified in the remaining eight cases.
Everyone who had contact with a coronavirus-infected independent MP Levan Gogichaishvili since September 5 will be tested for COVID-19 and go into self-isolation, parliament’s press office has reported.
The 2020 edition of Tbilisi Photo Festival will go ahead in face-to-face format following the lockdown, with its central event to run next month in a former Soviet printing house-turned hotel in the downtown.
Animation film enthusiasts will have to wait until 2021 to join the 10th anniversary edition of the International Animation Film Festival Nikozi in central Georgia, with organisers announcing a cancellation of the event due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
This year's edition of the popular Tbilisi Open Air music festival has been cancelled with organisers citing the ongoing concerns with the COVID-19 outbreak as the factor for the decision to avoid hosting the event.
This year's Kolga Tbilisi Photo awards are set to make a digital debut due to the limiting factors of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, with the contest scheduled to run next week.
Tbilisi City Hall will spend half a million GEL on Tbilisoba City Fest 2021, which is slated for October 24.Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze stated several days ago that various cultural and sports events will not be held this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Autumn harvest markets will be set up in seven locations of Tbilisi during the Tbilisoba City Fest on October 24-25, announced Tbilisi City Hall earlier today.
The Georgian capital of Tbilisi will celebrate the annual city festival on the first weekend of October with events for both children and adults, mayor Kakha Kaladze said earlier on Tuesday.
Vehicle traffic will be restricted in Tbilisi due to the events planned for celebrating the Georgian capital’s annual city festival, Tbilisoba 2022, this weekend, Tbilisi city hall announced on Thursday.
The Georgian capital of Tbilisi is celebrating the annual city festival Tbilisoba 2022 on the weekend, after a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with various events planned at different locations in the capital.