City Day celebrations opened today in Kyzyl, complete with horse-races in a repaired and restored hippodrome. The hippodrome was a favorite place for Kyzyl residents to visit in the seventies and eighties of the last century. During the period of perestroika it was left abandoned and was almost ruined. Kyzyl authorities decided to restore it and finished repair works on time for City Day with the help of the Sut-Khol Horse-Race Federation. At today's opening ceremony Tuvan Prime-Minister Sherig-ool Oorzhak and Kyzyl mayor Dmitri Dongak thanked the construction brigade for their quick and high-standard work. Six races have taken place on the newly-paved track, which is 1600 m long.
Tomorrow the city's festivities will be followed not by a traditional parade of companies and organizations but with a carnival procession.
Participants dressed in theater suits will be lined up and will then proceed from the National Gastello Cultural Park at 10.00 a. m. on September, 9. They will walk along the central street in Kyzyl to the Arat square, then turn toward the Yenisei River and walk along Krasnykh Partizan St. toward the Stadium of the Soviet Tuva 5th Anniversary.
The carnival procession will be led by the orchestra of Kyzyl's frontier squad. Groups in carnival suits from Kyzyl alexistration offices and deputies of Kyzyl Khural will participate in the parade as well. The main festival events will take place at the Stadium of the Soviet Tuva 5th Anniversary, among them are an award ceremony for honored residents, concerts, and the exhibition "Gifts of Nature".