Eurovision Village - A Big Let Down

Saturday, May 13, 2017
Kiev, Ukraine
 




Khreschatyk St the main blvd crossing Maidan Square has been closed off to one side to house the Eurovision Village. This is a fan area where anyone without event tickets can mingle, see different promo displays, and different concerts on the live stage. 

I have to say this was a big disappointment. First of all the big screen tv at the front was not that accessible. Whenever we were there in afternoons it wasnt crowded. But on any of the event nights the layout was not conducive to big crowds. 

 
 

The village has a fenced perimeter you have to go thru security to get thru. The central area is then taken up with beer tents and benches similar to Oktoberfest. This is not an idea setup for Eurovision which has big crowds on event nights. 

I didnt see any schedule for performers on non event nights. There was supposed to be nightly entertainment all week. The tourist information booth was just selling souvenirs and didnt have any information on where or how to get the Kiev City Card

 
 

    
With regards to food there were only a couple of vendors selling hot dogs or churros. If people are going to hang out here all evening they will want more food to eat. I remember festivals in Korea where half the vendors and half the fun were all the food vendors. 

Also in Korea there were so many tourism booths. This would have been an excellent opportunity for every town and province in Ukraine to have a tourism booth promoting historic, recreational, religious, cultural, and food activities in their region. There was nothing to promote Ukraine despite the crossover tourism benefits of hosting such as my visit to Odessa before Eurovision and heading to Minsk Belarus after. 

 
 

The EBU had nothing to promote the singers or the event. Ukrainian pop and folk music is big business but again there was nothing to promote it. Even the Ukrainian Festival in Toronto had so many interesting booths selling foods, folk clothes, music cds, tourism booths. 

After doing a quick walk thru I cant say this is anywhere we had any interest in hanging out or watching the events on the big screen. The dead space outside the perimeter they could have had street performers, souvenir vendors, childrens rides. All very poorly thought out. 

 
 
    


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