Stumbling Across a Wine Festival in Yerevan

It was another ordinary day for me. I got outside and walked with the camera, no real intentions or destination in mind. Just walking around the city and seeing what I stumbled across. It was a pretty hot day again, fortunately not as strong as the previous weeks have been, but warm enough to instantly feel the heat. Where walking around you tend to stick to the shade and avoid being in direct sunlight. I made the mistake of wearing a long-sleeved shirt as I tend to do, and then regretting it a few hours later. My weapon of choice was the 35mm lens which felt more suitable for the streets of Yerevan, which sometimes are wide and open, but sometimes a bit more narrow and featuring higher density of people. I walked, and walked, and repeated steps down streets multiple times. Though deciding to mix things up a little, I found myself walking towards a park and saw a few stands in the distance, the white peaks of tents. Usually that means an event here. 

I walked beyond the flower shaped fountain from the USSR and into the park where more tents came into view, though the more noticeable thing happened to be incredibly loud traditional Armenian music. The speakers must've been put on Turbo because my left ear within minutes felt like it had been exposed to the screeching of some Eldritch horrors. I couldn't see, but in the middle there were people dressed in the cultural clothing and performing dances alongside members of the public. It seems that all events here feature this sort of thing to some degree. Though, once that was done, the music changed into something else entirely, to the point where people attending the event and working it were also saying at how poor the music choices were. Particularly in comparison to the more cultural music just moments before.

Considering my view of the actual fun side of the music was blocked by a density of people, the main view for me was actually a fluffy stray dog that had appeared and decided to lay down around everyone, to which everyone immediately took note and began to spoil it with attention. Around that time people started to leave, the dances had ended and the main festival was underway. This was yet another wine festival in the city, featuring all kinds of independent winemakers alongside a few crafts. Stalls would offer all kinds of wine for people to try, with bottles also available for purchase. Of course this isn't without a few stalls that would offer things like cheese to accompany the glasses of wine. I have no idea where people were getting their wine glasses from, so this side of things was something I didn't experience at the festival. Though I wasn't really in a drinking mood anyway.

I walked around the festival and talked to people, engaging with them and hearing about some of the crafts side of things, taking some photographs for them to send them. Some of it was jewellery, some of it was little stickers and art pieces. I was told that one stall had only seen two sales throughout the event. Though I suspect this is normal depending on what the festival is about and whether the stall can relate to it or not. The wine side of things was most definitely popular. People walking around sipping different types of red and white wine. Accents from different parts of the world to be heard throughout. As the sun began to set the wind picked up, stalls were starting to be thrown all over. Pieces of banners would fall down. It became a bit unsafe and you could tell people weren't really prepared for it. Some stalls had even closed up shop a bit earlier than intended due to it.

I decided to stick around throughout most of the event, only leaving once I noticed a bit of a headache formed from the loud music. But in the darkness, with the wind throwing everyone and everything around, the atmosphere remained. People still thrived within the space, some stalls putting on some warm lights and still attracting people to them. It felt like with the arrival of the darkness, the festival turned more into an outdoor bar, where everyone had finally relaxed. The music continued to boom with a lack of taste, yet people would sit around it or dance to it, still finding some joy in the festival and whatever remains of summer. For me, it was a great experience. One of the reasons as to why I love roaming around with the camera. Never sure of what I'll stumble across, but sometimes still finding some strange new experience and engaging with new people I may never see again.