City bustling with life | Konstancin-Jeziorna

City bustling with life

No one can ever get bored in Konstancin-Jeziorna. Each year, the town’s calendar is jam-packed with cultural and sports events. Konstancin-Jeziorna offers a plethora of events to suit every taste — a taste for art, and a taste for sports.

Timetable of events

Konstancin Community Days, held every June, are true community celebrations with concerts, retro parades, history picnics, vintage car shows, live music bands, sporting matches, art exhibitions, art workshops, and exciting entertainment for children.

Equally exciting are the annual May events — Community Firefighters’ Day with marching brass bands and a picnic in the Spa Park, and the Raftsmen’s Festival with the Urzecze Folk Fair at Gassy. The festival’s rich schedule includes an old sailboat parade, live history lessons, boat trips along the Vistula, and various forms of entertainment.

Konstancin Community Days: A Retro Parade. Photo credit: A. Piętka

May to early September is the Summer Arts Season. Free weekly concerts in the Spa Park attract crowds of audience. The amphitheatre hosts popular solo musicians (including Stanisław Soyka, Grzegorz Turnau, Natalia Kukulska, Justyna Steczkowska, and Maciej Maleńczuk in the previous years) and renowned orchestras (including the Świętokrzyska Philharmonic Orchestra, and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland). Dance enthusiasts can have fun by attending informal afternoon dances in the pavilion next to the Villa Hugonówka, and film buffs can watch outdoor screenings in the amphitheatre.

July is the month of the Jazz Zdrój Festival (held in memory of Louis Armstrong). The festival hosts jazz bands from across the world. Musicians who play New Orleans jazz, Chicago jazz, Dixieland, ragtime, or blues give their concerts in the Spa Park amphitheatre, enjoyed by large audiences.

 

Concert at Jazz Zdrój Festival. Photo credit: A. Piętka

The highlight of September is the traditional Community Harvest Festival with live folk music, a contest for the most beautiful harvest wreath, awards for farmers, and a tournament for local rural communities.

Another major September event is the Open Gardens Festival, where painting, sculpture, and photography exhibitions, music concerts, and encounters with artists are arranged in many venues across the municipality. These venues are often located in the beautiful scenery of the town’s magnificent villas which are open to the public only at the time of the festival.

 

Poetry and art in green during the Open Gardens Festival. Photo credit: A. Piętka

The next event in the calendar is the World of Maklak Film Festival (Maklak is the nickname of Zygmunt Maklakiewicz, a popular actor). It is a two-day cinema celebration with a competition for amateur and independent filmmakers, and with film and TV show screenings that honour the festival’s namesake.

11 November is a public holiday in Poland, held to commemorate the regaining of the country’s independence. On that date, families can participate in an Independence Run and a History Picnic organised in the Spa Park as a living history programme, and the oldest residents have the chance to demonstrate their performing, entertaining, and artistic skills at a special event called ‘Wrzosowiska’ [Heathlands].

 

Independence run in 2018. Photo credit: A. Piętka

The year ends with the Christmas Fair combined with community Christmas Eve celebrations. Vendors at the fair sell a variety of seasonal items, including unique Christmas ornaments, decorations, and healthy foods. Visitors can learn to make decorations at special Christmas craft workshops.

Christmas Fair. Photo credit: A. Piętka

Konstancin-Jeziorna offers many opportunities for sports fans to share excitement and joy. In springtime, the Spa Park hosts the Nordic Walking Regional Cup. In addition, amateur and professional runners can take part in runs to honour prominent community members: Piotr Nurowski (in June), Tomasz Hopfer (in September), and the honorary citizen of Konstancin-Jeziorna St. John Paul II (in October). September is also the month for bike fans, who come in flocks to try their luck in the Poland Bike Marathon along the paths and tracks of Chojnów Scenic Park.

Running in memory of Tomasz Hopfer. Photo credit: A. Piętka

 

Under canopies of trees

Local community life revolves around the Konstancin Community Centre located in the Villa Hugonówka, the historic site of the first natural medicine clinic opened by Consul Hugo Seydel. The Centre provides plenty of activities for children and young people, including weekend concerts and theatrical events for the very young and slightly older audiences. The Cinema at the Hugonówka is a permanent facility that shows classic masterpieces, exciting premieres, and award-winning festival films. The villa also accommodates a small café which serves coffee, tea, and snacks for event attendees. In spring and summer, those who want to relax or lie in the sun can use deckchairs that are set up outside the building.