Hundreds of visitors filled the courtyard of symBiotic on last night's festive evening and enjoyed the great atmosphere, the meeting with nice people and the interesting program of the organizers from the "Lagoon of Life" project and RIEW Burgas.

The celebration started in the morning when Minister Yulian Popov and Deputy. Minister Petar Dimitrov visited the Bird Watching Hide to see the wealth of birds in the lake and to convince themselves of the value of this natural territory. And indeed, only meters away were Black-Winged Stilts, snipe, Glossy ibises, shovelers and of course more than 500 pink flamingos in the southern part of Atanasovsko Lake.

From 17:00 to 22:00 the flow of people on bicycles, on foot and in cars did not stop, coming to "symBiotic" to join the activities or simply to celebrate with the favorite lake.

This year's theme was "Salty people", which are actually all the friends of Atanasovsko Lake - people of different professions, interests and ages, attracted by the coastal lagoon. A salt workshop with fresh spices, crystal salt jewellery and delicate beads, children's art workshops were just some of the activities at the Fair. The BBF team prepared a special online QUIZ to test the salt people's knowledge about Atanasovsko Lake and although there was a technical problem with the correct answers, those who solved it received prizes from RIЕW and BBF.

The greatest interest was in the value-added products from the lagoon - melted and crystalline Black Sea salt, the first for this season "green salt" produced from salicornia, milk chocolate with fleur de sel, "Pelikan" soap with a cause, etc. Guest artists presented a variety of prints, ceramics, jewellery and more.

The partnership between the non-governmental environmental organizations was interesting - BBF as organizers of the event, BSPB as project partner, who participated with their stand and WWF, who presented their exhibition "The wonders of nature: from seed to forest", made within the LIFE project REFOREST. Thanks to the international BBF project "Game on" the climate game Terra Futura was presented, which engrossed the participants for more than an hour in playing and learning about climate change and challenges.

To the sounds of "Happy birthday", the children blew out the candles on the cake for the birthday hero, who is turning 43 this year (the Atanasovsko Lake reserve was declared on August 12, 1980). Maria Andreeva from RIEW Burgas congratulated the guests who came to celebrate with the beloved lake, which is facing difficulties at the moment, but we believe that together we will solve them. The owners of the reserve - the Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water - Burgas had provided such a big cake for the celebration that it was really enough for everyone who wanted it.

“This is one of my favourite summer events. I love coming here to the lakeside to meet such cool people and soak in the amazing atmosphere you create. And this year the holiday is truly incredible," shared one of the guests.

The musical part of the celebration included performances by the student rock group Detention Trio, who brought a new young audience to symBiotic, but also delighted older guests who went back in time with performances of favourite rock covers.

The celebration ended with a screening of the film "Salty People", a meeting with the author of the lyrics of the song "We Are Salty Creatures" - Mariana Sarbova, and a discussion about the lake.

"We would like to thank the BBF team, all the volunteers who helped us organize the celebration, all the authors, organizations and producers of food and drinks who took care of the mood of the guests, as well as our partners from Black Sea Salinas Ltd., who provided access to symBiotic," shared the director of the BBF, Rumyana Ivanova, who arrived especially for the celebration.

The event is organized within the framework of the LIFE project "The Lagoon of Life", implemented by the BBF, Black Sea Salinas, BSPB, and Zaedno 2011 and in partnership with RIEW Burgas.