Friends of the Green Ring

This is one of the leading events in the first edition of Nine Elephants. Over the course of several days, the area is cleaned up, and around several benches and tables, specially created for the occasion, a concert by a school band takes place, along with other artistic and social activities.

Svetoslav, one of the driving forces behind the Green Line, shares that the idea was inspired by the example of NordBand Trasse — a similar space in Wuppertal, Germany, used for organizing events. While studying there, he witnessed how, through civic initiative, such an abandoned site could be transformed with minimal resources and become a cultural driving force for the community.

So the event in the Gevgeliiski Neighbourhood raises the question of how little is actually needed for such forgotten spaces to be brought back into use, and how civic engagement with the urban environment is the most important factor for its positive transformation. What else could we achieve together if, in just a few days, neglected railway tracks could be turned into a pleasant place for relaxation and social interaction that brings together the neighborhood’s residents?

During the event, the concept of the so-called Green Ring and its route through Gevgeliiski Neighbourhood is presented, after which the organizers invite those present to answer ten questions about what they would like to see in the space. The highlight is the musical performance of two bands, whose members are residents of the neighborhood and students from the National High School of Applied Arts St. Luke, where Stella Vasileva is a homeroom teacher.

The organizers share that the entire process around the realization of Friends of the Green Ring is improvised and highly dependent on the neighborhood and the people they meet there. That is why it is important for them to give a stage to young people, rather than invite commercial and well-known performers. Everything takes place in about three hours, but now the place has its own life, and despite doubts that what was created would be preserved in its original form due to the specific characteristics of the neighborhood, it continues to exist.

Svetoslav says: “The most interesting thing is that people somehow feel that someone has done something and no one throws their rubbish there. One month later it’s still clean, that’s my biggest gift. Our other reward was that the kids in the neighborhood, when it was all over, were asking, ”Will you do it again next year?“, ”Please, we want to have a neighborhood fest here“.