Today, September 15, Kyiv is going to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. During the event, the main street of Ukraine’s capital will be closed to cars. The festival PodyakaFest (ThanksgivingFest) will start at 12.00. In the evening at 18.00 musical performances and entertainment activities will be held. The festival’s program includes sports and creative competitions, photo zones, master classes, food courts and various other activities.
In 2017, over 250,000 Ukrainians gathered for Thanksgiving. Motivational speaker Nick Vujcic was invited to the event. At the time, his performance gathered several hundred thousand guests on Khreshchatyk, and thanks to live broadcast, millions of viewers around the world were able to see the event. In 2018, Thanksgiving was visited by Hollywood actor Stephen Baldwin. In Ukraine this holiday was celebrated mostly in the Protestant milieu, and it began to gain national scale after the Revolution of Dignity.