Why the Cancelled Valka/Valga Disco Night is Causing Controversy and Upset

Vents Armands Krauklis, who is also a musician himself and founded the popular hit group “Boomerangs” in 1986, wrote on his Facebook profile that the Valka/Valga Disco Night has been cancelled:

Chooses the most unproductive path

“This year’s festival program of Valka/Valga city was discussed with Estonian colleagues in a timely manner and the most important joint events came as my suggestion with developments on the Latvian side, looking for a unifying element in each.

On Friday evening – the joint festive procession, which would end at the Ramsi mill with a picnic (treat) and a Border Big Band concert. Then everyone, together with the residents and guests of both sides, would solemnly open the 2nd round of the Valka/Valga center (of course, thanking all the project implementers) and then enjoy a magnificent fountain show for free.

Saturday – festival for children (free attractions), market, dance performance on stage (dance, because you don’t have to understand the language) and then in the new center of Valka/Valga – DISCO NIGHT OF VALK/VALGA. So that those residents and guests of both sides, who are not satisfied with sitting at concerts, but want to move around in a large group of people, can feel the festive mood in the same way as they would party together in the New Year. This too would have been a free event with magnificent lights, music suitable for different tastes, buffets. There was money in the budget for this, only a few organizational issues remained.

I was very surprised that DISCO NIGHT has disappeared from the holiday program.
I don’t know the reason, the motivation, but it is clear that one essential element of the holiday has disappeared.

In my opinion, this is a mistake and a confirmation that the new coalition does not look at things in the context and chooses the easiest, but most unproductive way – to do nothing”.

“We don’t party and sleep!”

Internet users have published harsh comments about the “cancellation” of Disco Night:

Jolanta: “When another leader takes over, many things are different. The new one has a different vision, other values, a different train of thought, a different performance. It remains only to put up with it and not hurt yourself. It will get easier with time. You also have to learn to let go. It is not easy. By experience”.

Welcoming the year 2023 in Valka/Valga:

Martin Ketner: “Afraid that people will be happy”.

Sandra Gayle: “Party-don’t sleep! Now we don’t party – we sleep! Peace at home! Is Disco too expensive to cancel?”

Egita Stahovska: “What a miracle there is. Now there will be silence in Valka, because the current head of Valka usually does not attend events. Accordingly, the money will be shifted to other places”.

Sigita Vītiņa: “The city will be like extinct. And the people too… It’s terrible. Everything will go smoothly…”

Baiba Or: “Very sorry. The atmosphere in the New Year was unique and it could really be repeated, it would only be good for the city and the people”.

Fountains instead of a discotheque

The Valka County Council responds to this: “During the last few days, information has been circulating on social networks in a reprehensible manner that the disco night planned as part of the Valka – Valga city festival has been cancelled, that the mentioned event was an important element of the festival and would be “something special”.

Unfortunately, the information is being withheld that the canceled disco night was not a carefully planned event, but an idea that was neither filled with content nor planned in the budget.
Shortly before the city festival, the organizers of the fountain show informed the municipality that Pedele (the river that runs through Valka) needs an additional technical solution in order to be able to provide a full-fledged and high-quality show, increasing the total cost of the fountain show by about 2000 euros.

When discussing the actual situation and clarifying the final version of the city’s festival program together with the representatives of the Valga municipality, the common opinion of both parties was that the fountain show is the most anticipated event during the festival, so everything possible should be done to ensure that it is of high quality. Taking into account the above, together with the specialists of the two municipalities, it was decided not to implement the idea of ​​a disco night.

Starting next year, we want to significantly change the concept of the Valka – Valga festival, making the festival more compact, much more exciting and full of performances and entertainment. We want to make the city festival exciting for guests from other parts of Latvia and Estonia as well, so that the twinning municipalities also look forward to this event year after year”.

Vents Armands Krauklis himself answers this: “You can always find 10 reasons why not to do it, but this reasoning does not withstand criticism. If there was a desire – DISCO NIGHT could be organized even now – good lights, good sound, DJs from both sides, music – a wide spectrum – Latvian, Estonian, foreign. Just like on New Year’s Eve. It does not require a lot of money and there was money in the budget (enough for both the fountain show and the DISCO NIGHT). Yes, and this is the way to feel the holiday”.