“Our festival of bears stands for the best children´s entertainment in the centre of tourism – in Hrebienok. Every year, we are upgrading the programme and adapting it to perceptive young visitors. 10 years – this is 10 memories of preparations but also 10 times worrying about the overall organisation of such a difficult event. We set three basic priorities for ourselves as organisers at the beginning – to create an entertaining event, to guarantee comfort and safety of our visitors all the time and to leave the area clean and in order once the festival ends. When we launched the ´Bears´ in 2008, smiling faces of children that were happy about the bear concept became our driving force for further years. Meanwhile, the ´Bears´ have become a tradition, a celebration and a festival of children who come to the Tatras in the middle of the summer to enjoy what they love. I am very happy that we have managed to attract whole families to come to Hrebienok and to combine adventures, leisure time activities and fresh mountain air. And for that, we need to thank the whole coordination team, the town of Vysoké Tatry, the regional tourism organisation of Región Vysoké Tatry and other partners who have been helping us to deal with transport and parking issues,” said Martin Šabla from Tatry mountain resorts, a.s., who is behind the idea of the Bear Days in Hrebienok.
Five days between Wednesday 2nd August and Sunday 6th August 2017 will be dedicated to fun, dancing and relaxation in the area of Hrebienok at the altitude of 1,285 metres. The 10th year of the cult bear festival will be a place with the highest concentration of teddy bears and mascots in one place again. All visitors can look forward to a rich bear programme with various games, competitions, bear fun, a bear race and bear breakfast. Kids will love 10 animation stations meant to train fast reactions, memory, accuracy and physical abilities of bears, an inflatable climbing wall, rope obstacles – a bear cage, big inflatable darts, a climbing net between trees and the “How a bear looks for food in a waste container” station. A unique combination of theatre, music and sports entertainment will be mixed for all visitors every day. The event will be hosted by Vinco the Postman, aka Roman Feder for the first three days and the “presenter baton” will be passed over to Andrej Bičan on Saturday and Sunday. A mini dance school of Lúčnica will test physical skills of small bear cubs who can also look forward to the Komika theatre group and a performance about The Emperor´s New Suit, the theatre group of Nové divadlo Nitra and its performance about Baby goats and the Wolf, the children´s folklore ensemble Železiarik, a performance of the Elementary art school of V. Urban from Košice called From One Song to Another and the band of Children and Jaro Gažo. There will also be the theatre group Maškrta, Vintage Circus, the theatre group Piki, an extract of the Cats musical with great dancers of the well-known CreeDance, the SĽUK ensemble with a performance about Kasperl, theatre groups Divadlo na doske, Divadlo hudby and Veselá kopa from Palárikovo and musicians of the Funny Fellows will close the programme. For more details about the daily programme, please click HERE.
Children who bring their teddy bears to the Bear Days will get small presents like every year. The most popular and most visited event in the Tatras will have to deal with heavy traffic again. “We have been communication with the town and traffic police like every year. There will be 14 parking areas prepared for visitors and marked on a special parking map that will be published on www.vt.sk and www.regiontatry.sk during the Bear Days. Temporary traffic signs will be used as well and the traffic organisation in Starý Smokovec will be changed temporarily,” added Martin Šabľa.
The funicular between Starý Smokovec and Hrebienok will be operating non-stop and as needed, walkers can make a walk along a marked tourist trail or use an asphalt road.
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Tatry mountain resorts, a.s. (TMR) is the leader in tourism in Central and Eastern Europe; it owns and operates attractive mountain resorts, amusement parks, restaurant facilities, sports services, shops and hotels. In the Low Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Jasná Nízke Tatry and hotels Wellness hotel Grand Jasná, Boutique Hotel Tri Studničky, Chalets Jasná De Luxe, Hotel Srdiečko, and Hotel Rotunda. TMR is also the owner of Aquapark Tatralandia, the largest Slovak aquapark with year-round operation, which besides water entertainment includes Tropical Paradise, a special tropical indoor hall with sea water, as well as Fun Park, and accommodation in bungalows and apartments of Holiday Village Tatralandia. In the High Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Vysoké Tatry with mountain areas of Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec, and Štrbské Pleso, which TMR co-manages. In the High Tatras TMR also owns hotels Grandhotel Praha Tatranská Lomnica, Grandhotel Starý Smokovec, Hotel FIS Štrbské Pleso and Mountain hotel Hrebienok. TMR also owns a 9.5 % share in Melida, a.s., which leases and operates the resort Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. In Poland TMR owns a 97% share in the mountain resort Szczyrkowski Ośrodek Narciarski S.A. (SON), a 75% share in a company that owns and operates Silesian Amusement Park (Śląskie Wesołe Miasteczko) and a 7.3% share in an amusement-educational project via the Polish company Korona Ziemi Sp. z.o.o. TMR also owns and leases hotels Slovakia, Kosodrevina, Liptov and Ski&Fun Záhradky a Bungalovy to third parties. By the end of 2016 EUR 230 mil. had been invested into development and modernisation of TMR’s resorts. TMR shares are traded on three European stock exchanges – in Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw.