Running On Burgas

Event director Ivan Valkov was pleased with the support the new Spirit of Burgas Festival in Bulgaria received, drawing more than 9,000 per day to the Black Sea coast August 17-19.

“It’s very difficult to bring a massive amount of people in the first year of a festival and I am happy that we had so many in year one,” he said.

One of the attendees was local mayor Dimitar Nikolov, a keen supporter of the new event, which is promoted by London-based Lilyco and DS music in Sofia.

The local municipality picks up 30 percent of the costs, with the remainder coming from sponsors including Tuborg and Jack Daniel’s.

Part of the site is on the beach at Burgas, a major coastal resort and the country’s largest and most important seaport.

“We also had good media support and a lot of individual journalists supporting us, which was a pleasant surprise,” Valkov explained.

The lineup, including The Sisters of Mercy, Cradle of Filth, Kosheen, Asian Dub Foundation and Michel de Hey, helped launch the latest festival in what’s becoming a crowded Balkan market.