{"id":45821,"date":"2025-12-02T11:05:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/starry-christmas-silute-ice-rink\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:52:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T08:52:46","slug":"starry-christmas-silute-ice-rink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/starry-christmas-silute-ice-rink\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cStarry Christmas\u201d in \u0160ilut\u0117: beloved performers and the largest ice rink in Western Lithuania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Very soon, on December 5th, \u0160ilut\u0117 will be flooded with Christmas lights \u2013 the magical festive season of waiting will begin! On the first Friday of December, the people of \u0160ilut\u0117 and guests of the town are invited to the Christmas tree lighting celebration, and later on the same day \u2013 to the grand opening of the \u0160ilut\u0117 ice rink.The new \u0160ilut\u0117 Ice Arena \u2013 the largest in Western Lithuania<\/strong>First, the silver spruce growing in the centre of \u0160ilut\u0117, next to the recently renovated Cultural Centre, will be lit. The Christmas tree lighting celebration will begin on December 5th (Friday) at 17:30. Environmentally conscious residents of \u0160ilut\u0117 are delighted that in recent years the spruce, which has been growing here for almost 40 years, has grown even taller and more beautiful. Once decorated, it will be visible from even further away and will soon be able to compete in its graceful appearance with its \u201crelatives\u201d in other cities of the country. The people of \u0160ilut\u0117 started the tradition of decorating a growing spruce two years ago and are proud that \u0160ilut\u0117 is one of the few cities in the country that decorates a living Christmas tree and thus saves one tree\u2019s life every year.A joint theatrical programme by the \u0160ilut\u0117 Chamber Drama Theatre and the \u0160ilut\u0117 Cultural Centre will be traditionally presented to spectators gathered by the Christmas tree.Everyone will fit into the ice rink<\/strong>Immediately after the Christmas tree lighting event, participants will be greeted by the most joyful winter holiday news \u2013 the opening of the largest ice rink in all of Western Lithuania! This year its area reaches as much as 940 m\u00b2 (last year \u2013 600 m\u00b2). The spacious ice rink will accommodate more people wishing to have fun during one skating session, therefore queues are expected to be avoided. The larger rink will also be more convenient for ice hockey players training here and for performances by other groups on the ice. Last year, the covered ice rink installed for the first time in the town of \u0160ilut\u0117 became the most popular attraction in the coastal region, encouraging people to celebrate the holidays in a different way and making \u0160ilut\u0117 famous throughout the country. During the entire festive season, various performers, sports and art groups gave performances at the covered rink, as well as skating lessons and discos were held. In less than three months, the ice rink installed in the town centre was visited by more than 20,000 visitors \u2013 an eloquent number, considering that \u0160ilut\u0117 has about 17,000 inhabitants in total. Encouraged by last year\u2019s success and favourable feedback from residents, the municipal authorities again invite all coastal residents and guests of the municipality to celebrate the major year-end holidays in a wintry way \u2013 at the ice rink called \u201c\u0160ilut\u0117 Ice Arena\u201d (\u201c\u0160ilut\u0117s ledo arena\u201d), which is being completed in a location already familiar to skating enthusiasts \u2013 in the inner courtyard of the Hugo \u0160ojus Manor in \u0160ilut\u0117 (Lietuvinink\u0173 St. 4 (Lietuvinink\u0173 g. 4)). The object, which cost almost 150,000 euros, is a gift from the local self-government to coastal residents and an investment in healthy, meaningful community leisure. \u201cStarry Christmas!\u201d \u2013 this year\u2019s slogan of Christmas\u2013New Year \u0160ilut\u0117<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe invite everyone to come to \u0160ilut\u0117 and welcome a special \u2013 starry \u2013 Christmas here (\u201c\u017evaig\u017ed\u0117tas\u201c Kal\u0117das). Here, far from big cities, away from noise and bright lights, in the silence of nature the true beauty not only of the sky but also of life itself opens up. I wish you to raise your eyes to the starry sky more often, to feel a festive uplift, a Vyd\u016bnas-like harmonious relationship with the world, yourself and others, to enjoy pleasant togetherness and the cultural programme prepared for you this year, and perhaps even to dare to step onto skates if you have never done so before,\u201d invites \u0160ilut\u0117 District Municipality Mayor Vytautas Laurinaitis. According to him, the decision to install this year a temporary ice rink larger than two basketball courts was made after evaluating last year\u2019s experience. \u201cIt is an incredibly good feeling to see so many people in \u0160ilut\u0117 wanting to spend their free time actively. We encourage and support the residents\u2019 desire to live healthier, move more, communicate, so this year we invite everyone to the new, largest ice arena in the region!\u201d says V. Laurinaitis.By the way, Vilius Storosta\u2013Vyd\u016bnas was mentioned by the mayor not by chance: a photograph has survived testifying to the old local traditions of having fun on the ice in \u0160ilut\u0117. It shows the well-known philosopher and writer Vyd\u016bnas, with skates, captured spending his leisure time on the ice of the \u0160y\u0161a River.In the new ice rink, visitors will be able to spend their free time meaningfully without being afraid of unfriendly weather conditions \u2013 above this winter entertainment space an impressive 1,200 m\u00b2 roof has been installed, which will protect skaters. For the convenience of those waiting, cozy waiting areas have been set up next to the rink this year, spaces for Christmas photo sessions, lighting created from 1,800 bulbs that gives the impression of a starry sky, and other innovations which are expected to pleasantly surprise especially young families. <\/p>\n\n

Performers from all over Lithuania will be invited<\/strong>\u201cIce and stars suit each other and suit the holidays, therefore during the festive period in \u0160ilut\u0117 we will see not only corresponding decoration elements in public spaces but also many other \u2018stars\u2019 of various brightness,\u201d says \u0160ilut\u0117 Cultural Centre Director J\u016brat\u0117 Pancerova. She revealed that from the Christmas tree lighting on December 5th until the end of February, numerous events for children, young people and adults will take place in \u0160ilut\u0117. At the opening event of the rink, those gathered will be entertained by the well-known Vilnius DJ Tomas Boo and the Klaip\u0117da figure skating club \u201cFrost\u201d (\u201cSpeigas\u201d) (coach and head Edita Dvarionien\u0117). The aim is for spectators to have as many opportunities as possible to spend long and dark evenings not at home, but in decorated and illuminated public spaces of the town with their loved ones, friends or acquaintances, so the creation and coordination of the events programme is a continuous process. Among the planned events are concerts by various performers and bands, educational activities, performances by professional figure skaters, skating lessons with a coach, family afternoons with animators, an afternoon with Santa Claus, an evening of French music with \u0160ilut\u0117 Theatre actors, Christmas and New Year ice discos and many other interesting cultural events. In the town, the traditional Christmas Tree Alley competition will also take place, where town institutions compete to see who will decorate their tree more beautifully and elaborately.One of this year\u2019s festive novelties in \u0160ilut\u0117 is the \u201cChristmas Tree Advent Calendar\u201d (\u201cEglu\u010di\u0173 Advento kalendorius\u201d) installed next to the Hugo \u0160ojus Museum. Every day from the beginning of Advent a Christmas tree will be decorated, and by Christmas an entire alley of them should appear in the Old Market Square on the \u0160y\u0161a River embankment. <\/p>\n\n

Everyone, young and older, is invited to make friends with the ice<\/strong>In order to ensure that everyone who wishes can visit the ice rink, it was decided to keep a friendly pricing policy (compared to last year, only the adult ticket has increased by one euro): the price of skating and skate rental on site \u2013 5 euros for adults, 2 euros for children.This year, the duration of one skating session will be 60 minutes. It is planned that the ice rink will be open to visitors every day. As before, tickets can be purchased at the entrance to the ice arena. On the opening day, a 50% discount will apply to tickets (session duration \u2013 30 minutes). Special offers are being prepared for socially vulnerable groups. Children living in less affluent families or educated in special education institutions will again be invited to free skating sessions this year. In January, pupils from the district\u2019s schools are planned to be invited to the rink. Next to the rink, Christmas huts tempting with delicious aromas will be installed, where hot drinks, sweets and snacks will be sold, so hungry fun-seekers or those enjoying this wintry spectacle will be able to have a snack or warm up right there.The organiser of Christmas\u2013New Year events is the \u0160ilut\u0117 Cultural Centre. The events are funded by the \u0160ilut\u0117 District Municipality.Partners: \u0160ilut\u0117 Tourism Information Centre, \u0160ilut\u0117 Chamber Drama Theatre, \u0160ilut\u0117 Hugo \u0160ojus Museum.The constantly updated calendar of events in \u0160ilut\u0117 can be found at:\u0160ilut\u0117 District Municipality events calendar https:\/\/www.silute.lt\/renginiu-kalendorius\/5781<\/span><\/a>,\u0160ilut\u0117 Cultural Centre website https:\/\/siluteskc.lt\/renginiai\/<\/span><\/a> and Facebook page https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/siluteskulturoscentras<\/span><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

The photos show moments from the press conference held on Monday next to the new \u201c\u0160ilut\u0117 Ice Arena\u201d (\u201c\u0160ilut\u0117s ledo arena\u201d). The people of \u0160ilut\u0117, who have installed the largest covered ice rink in Western Lithuania, are investing in active and meaningful leisure time for local residents. Photo author \u2013 Julius Macnoris.<\/p>\n\n

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Very soon, on December 5th, \u0160ilut\u0117 will be flooded with Christmas lights \u2013 the magical festive season of waiting will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siluteinfo.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}