Ząbkowska is more than just another street: it’s Praga’s spiritual gateway, a place where ‘things happen’. Its credentials attesting to this are numerous, though none stand up to scrutiny better than Otwarta Ząbkowska, a festival that seeks to encourage the ‘creative exchange of ideas and mutual inspiration’. Now in its second year, and funded by the ‘Urban Regeneration Program 2022’, it aims to celebrate art, literature, music, film, theater and food. Most of all, it aims to promote Praga whilst also ‘returning’ its most prominent street to the people.

To do so, for the duration of August Ząbkowska will be closed to traffic each Saturday and Sunday: instead of car horns and boy racers winging it down the road at top speed, visitors will find outbreaks of street yoga, an antique market trading in vintage books and vinyl, not to mention concerts featuring everyone from DJ Wika (Poland’s oldest DJ!) to traditional folk bands parping into dented brass instruments. That though is the tip of the iceberg. Scheduled events include molecular cooking workshops, a ‘mannequin march’, a silent disco and a dog parade – and even that doesn’t begin to cover the full scope of the plans. Colorful, energetic and audaciously eccentric, Otwarta Ząbkowska presents the essence of Praga.

For more info and a full list of events, check:
otwartazabkowska.pl

Words: AW / Photographs by Arkadiusz Drygas (courtesy of organizers)