This year, the popular car rally will celebrate its jubilee - it will be held for the 20th time. Traditionally, this event is supported by Rietumu Bank Charity Fund jointly with Jurmala City Council.
The last weekend of August is a special date for owners and fans of antique cars from Latvia and many other countries - from year to year, on these days a colourful parade of masterpieces of world car manufacturing moves along the streets of the famous resort.
The current rally is expected to have more than 200 retro cars and motorcycles, which will arrive to Jurmala specially for this event from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Finland and other countries.
This retro parade, the jubilee one, will be dedicated to the memory of its inspirer and continuous organiser Maris Mezapuke.
“With this parade, we will pay tribute to the memory of Maris Mezapuke, who is sadly no longer with us - a person, without whom this retro rally, favoured by many collectors and connoisseurs of antique cars from different countries, would be impossible. Maris was a top class professional, inspiring organiser and true enthusiast, who created this event from scratch and developed it from year to year, making it one of the visiting cards of Jurmala,” said Member of the Board of the Latvian Classic Car Club Liene Mezapuke.
Registration of participants of the parade will start at 9:30 at a parking place in Dubulti. Then the procession will start moving towards the centre of the resort - to Majori, where it will stay on Jomas Street from 12:30 to 14:30. There, all who are interested will be able to see the participants of the parade close up, as well as take photos with the cars and their colourful drivers; many of them get into the character relevant to the epoch of their car specially for the event.
Then the participants of the rally will move to Ragaciems and later take part in the Festival of Health and Sport to be held in Tukums on this day.
The “Retro Jūrmala” parade is the biggest event of this type in the Baltics. In the course of it, rides and layovers are combined, gathering lots of spectators, who have a full opportunity to enjoy the charm of these unique and rare vehicles, many of which are a real luxury nowadays, as well as watch performances of artists and listen to musicians.
A distinguishing feature of the Jurmala parade is that the decision to participate in it can either be taken in advance or practically at the last minute - registration on the spot is open to all.
Rietumu Bank has issued a new edition of its own guidebook to Riga, Jurmala and the entire of Latvia - Rietumu Guide.