At the Fair_2011

The first Lowland (Lowland is the territory on which the Slovaks live in three states Romania, Serbia and Hungary) fair was organized in Bekeščaba, Hungary, in the year of 2008. In that time Anna Ištvánová who is the ideology creator of the fair gathered numerous participants from Hungary, Romania and Serbia with an aim to present the cultural traditions, mostly gastronomic, old crafts and spiritual culture of Slovaks living on the Lowland. It was a common project of Slovaks who come from these three states. The main idea is to move this fair yearly from state to state and this way show the majority population in Serbia, Romania and Hungary the cultural code of the Slovaks from Lowland. This four year long cycle should be finished in Slovakia.

The second year of this Fair was in the year of 2009 in Báčsky Petrovec when the Slovak cultural institute of Vojvodina's Slovaks carried out this spectacular event in the Slovak National Celebration. The third fair was held in Romania in a small town called Nadlak, where many craftsmen, musicians, singers, guilds and visitors from the region came to see and be a part of the fair. Trough few years this event became one of the best meetings of many Slovaks. The result of this manifestation shows that this type of presentation of Slovak culture is interesting for many.

The idea of organizing the enclosure of the first fair cycle is supported by the Office for Slovaks living(OSLA) abroad, headed by the new president Milan Vetrák. On April the 11^th there was the first meeting held, on which there was decided that the main organizer of this years fair will be the OSLA with the cooperation of partnership institutions from Romania, Serbia and Hungary which have been participating on the organization of this event. From the Čabian organization of Slovaks there was present Anna Ištvánová who will be the leading koordinator for the three countries, in the name of the demokratic federation of Slovaks and Czechs in Romania was present Pavel Hlásnik, in the name of National Council of Slovak National minority there were Vladimír Valentík and Ladislav Čáni, and in the name of the cultural institute of Vojvodina's Slovaks Milina Sklabinská.

The president of OSLA Milan Vetrák his advisers and the director TIMMKO Martin Štrbka is responsible for the realization in the name of OSLA as much as the representatives of the Lowland institutions have agreed on a fact that the culture of Slovaks from the Lowland should be represented mostly to those who know very little about it or almost nothing. Thats why every member of the project team will do their best to prepare a successful event with the media support.

When considering the three successful realizations of the fair, the content should consist of the best things and that Slovaks can offer to show their culture in the best way. This fair will be approachable to numerous visitors. The fair will be held on June the 5^th 2011 on a day of the St. Cyril and Methodius which is the saints-day and state holiday in Slovakia so the fair should be the main accompanying event.