“Move forward, strive for the goal, and live positively: Bikers for road safety and healthy lifestyle,” was the slogan of the 6th International Biker Festival that brought together about 700 bikers and musicians from across Ukraine and from abroad in Kakhovka, Kherson region.
“We saw bikers come from the Republic of Komi, the Kuban, Krasnodar and Taganrog, Moldova and Belarus, Great Britain and Kazakhstan. However, the old truth still stands: our biker is mostly one from eastern and southern Ukraine, that is, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk and (somewhat less so) Kharkiv regions. Some bikers came from the Crimea and Kyiv. Western Ukraine was mostly underrepresented, as they have their own festivals,” says Viktor Zubkov, one of the event’s organizers. “Bikers are attracted mostly by an opportunity to socialize.”
“Tachanka, as the festival is nicknamed, is one of the best biker gatherings in the country with its dynamic, funny and interesting program. One comes here and really relaxes, mentally as well as physically. This is a festival of long standing, so the organizers can teach you how to do it,” notes Maksym, a Mykolaiv biker.
Organizers express hope that the annual festival will promote further development of the biker movement in Kakhovka as well as the city’s historical heritage and further improve the image of the city as a tourist center of Kherson region. In addition, a fundraiser was held during the two-day event to help a five-year-old Kakhovka girl Valeria Slyvina who is currently at the oncohematology ward of the Kherson Regional Children’s Hospital. As much as 4,300 hryvnias were raised to fund the girl’s treatment and bone marrow transplantation.
