Festival participants injured on the broken stage on the Ilia Lake

Reginifo.ge

In Kvareli, on the Ilia Lake, the stage broke when participants of the 4th Republic Festival of Folk Dance Companies were dancing on it. Several children were slightly injured and the head of the company canceled their dance number.

“The company from Tbilisi refused to continue dance. The child was crying and had bruises on one leg. One more girl fell into the hole between the boards. The third lost shoes and continued dancing without shoes. We, all parents were there to save children from incidents,” the mother of one of the dancers told Reginfo.

Director of the Kvareli Center for the Protection and Development of Culture Heritage, Sport and Rest Centers Dimitri Solomnishvili also confirmed that the stage on the Ilia Lake is in poor conditions. The organization, established by the municipality administration, operates the Ilia Lake Resort Complex.

Dimitri Solomnishvili said the organizers of the festival are responsible for the incident and added that it was a small incident; they did not even call ambulance. 

“It has been fourth year since the festivals are organized on the Ilia Lake. The organizer is the nongovernmental organization Development and Restoration of Georgian Culture. This year, about 1 400 people from different parts of Georgia participated in the festival. We did not ask them to pay for the stage. As the stage is 7 years old, it needs restoration but we are not renting it. The organizers did not have complaints about the stage when they arrived to examine the area before the festival,” Dimitri Solomnishvili said.

He added that in near future Kvareli municipality city hall will announce tender on the rehabilitation of the amphitheater stage. 

The Kvareli Center for the Protection and Development of Culture Heritage, Sport and Rest Centers is funded with 150 000 GEL from the municipal budget. Besides that, they have income from the resort complex on the Ilia Lake.

Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili opened the Ilia Lake on November 18, 2011. The lake is surrounded with 4-kilometer-long cycle-path. Training equipment, football and basketball grounds are arranged in the complex. Part of infrastructure has been out of order for several years already. In summer the guests from all municipalities of Kakheti region visit the resort. The Ilia Lake is the only resort complex owned by the municipal administration which is available for everybody. 

Original text