Sound checks can last for hours
so Smiljan Kreže brought me a fishing rod
so I could go fishing
during the sound check.
The fish I caught was this big.
There are few things I remember
except for this general festive feel,
the happiness of the inhabitants
and the relaxed vibe.
I have so many short memories
that I can't quite piece together.
I’m kidding, I didn't catch anything.
What I remember from the very beginning
is the small stage
called the Jurček Stage on Jurčkova Street.
I also remember Mr. Jurček.
Mr. Jurček was a real character from Maribor
who would dress up as a policeman,
a woman, you name it.
He even opened the festival one year.
He was charming and a real character
who would put on a police suit
and check people's documents.
He would often jump in my lap.
He knew how to calm people down
so we almost didn't need security men.
The early beginnings of Lent
were just like Predin describes them.
Everything was abandoned there.
There was a forest.
I remember the crew sitting
in this very street.
I don't remember everyone
but I do remember Pifke, Gogo, Borko, and Porto.
We said we had to do something,
things just had to get going.
We were students travelling the world
and we graduated later on.
We missed the people
we encountered on other continents
so we said: If we can't travel anymore,
let's bring those folkdance groups here.
It was from this very core,
from the Študent Academic Folkdance Group
that the idea of Folkart
and later on the Lent Festival arose from.
The first thing I think of when Lent
is mentioned is the fireworks.
- Party.
A party
- The old vine.
The Drava River since the 
wind blows from there.
- Crepes.
- Beer, of course.
Hard work.
Right after the war
people simply didn't have much money
so they didn't go on holiday
or to the seaside, they stayed at home.
So it was like the story
of Muhammad and the mountain.
If the mountain won't come to Muhammad,
then Muhammad must go to the mountain.
We brought culture to the people.
For the first year the people of Maribor
thought of Lent as some type of wonder.
It then began to grow
and we embraced it as our own.
Of course, we were helped out by sponsors.
We couldn't have done it without them.
Lent has always been the best start of summer
one could ever imagine.
- There's always something happening.
- It's definitely an experience.
- But nothing actually happens.
Those 16 days are unforgettable.
Full of people, fantastic, too short.
We started with Ray Charles.
Then came B.B. King,
James Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon,
Tania Maria.
We had the Dubliners for
the second festival.
We were full of expectation.
Would it work or not, where would we find
certain brands of whiskey or cognac?
That's what their 
contracts demanded.
Of course we came to realize
that this was actually made up
by managers who want the best for the artists
because we noticed
that after the performers headed for the hotel
they never even touched
those things.
We always try to offer our performers
something local,
be it food or drink. We didn't dare to at first
so we would head to Austria
to buy certain brands of whiskey
which we couldn't buy in Slovenia then.
We borrowed a Mercedes
and it was the first automatic I ever drove.
It was just like in Driving Miss Daisy
but our colors were different.
I sat in the driver's seat
and behind me sat Ray Charles.
He read Braille all the time
and we talked for a while.
James Brown was the only performer
whose hand I didn't shake after the concert.
I’d never met someone as pretentious
and unprofessional as 
him and his Italian managers.
- Lent is orto Maribor.
- Maribor is nothing without Lent.
- Maribor shows its true 
self during Lent.
- We need to live and breathe
 Lent all year round.
It's become synonymous 
for Maribor.
What can I say about rain?
All I can do is laugh
after 20 years of the festival.
Rain is our constant companion.
There are jokes going around
that there is no Lent Festival
if it doesn't rain the first day.
This morning I woke up
and it was raining in Ptuj.
I knew everything would be fine.
If it's raining, Lent would be fine.
There's no such thing
as Lent with no rain.
Magnifico was performing
and it started pouring like crazy.
People still stuck around.
Magnifico stepped up to the edge
and said he'd get wet too.
I felt like the right thing to stop.
We even had a blackout.
But the people didn't leave, they stayed.
I said to myself:
If it doesn't bother them,
how could it bother me with a roof above my head?
I like to melt into the crowd,
become one with them. Every time.
It's interesting that the rain doesn't scare
people away, it even attracts them.
It's about defying the weather,
hanging out even though God is crying above us.
Something else happened while it rained
and while we had no electricity.
We played on and I said:
On the count of four, we all sing.
The second I counted to four,
the power was back up.
I put on a show without knowing it.
Something amazing always happens here.
We grew from a group of friends.
You could say we pressed the Like button
when choosing new members 
of the Lent crew.
Young people are showing up
and they change the face of Lent.
They introduced events at the Town Park,
Udarnik, and stand-up shows.
New people come
and we are slowly leaving.
We always wanted
to spread to the Town Park.
We felt it was a great location
for children and families
where they could hang around in nature
without having to worry about the traffic.
The events here
were meant only for children initially
but they have developed
into events for all age groups.
The workshops aren't meant for children alone,
adults take part too,
at least those who are still
young at heart.
A spiritual message:
Paradise for all those present.
- Peace and love.
- I don't think there is a message.
I don't think it's that deep.
There should be a boat with all
American actors on it. Steven Seagal,
Kevin Costner, Goran Višnjić, Rade
Šerbedžija, all of them.
Then you would drive the boat to the Croatian
coastline and yell: Put it on idle!
Then you would drive it along
the coast nice and slow.
Even 20 years ago people would
hang around and talk in bars
about how Franci's car fell on the floor
at the mechanic’s and broke.
Franci ran into the bar and said:
Guys, drinks on me.
You wouldn't believe what
 just happened.
He made people laugh
and that's how stand up has began.
My trip to Maribor was long.
It was hot and it rained
but everything was fine. I'm
happy to be here, to be part of
this glorious Lent Festival
which Maribor hosts every year.
We are currently
on a special location.
It’s known as The Grave of Bad Stand-Up,
the final place for those who don't succeed.
Lent means to me 200 to 250 Euro gross
with trip costs and a sandwich 
at the gas station.
I dare call it my child.
I can't imagine summer 
without Lent.
And then I asked him: What's
heavier, one liter of oil or one
liter of water? He looks at me
and says: A liter is a liter.
What I don't like about Lent
is that it could cost 350 net.
What bothers me is that typical attitude
in Maribor that it's all the same,
that the drinks are expensive
and there's no variety,
that the bands suck. That's not true.
If you do your research,
you can find lots of new things.
Maybe you just haven't heard about a
band or a project, but in the end you
find out it's simply phenomenal.
Just kidding, Lent rocks.
The Lent Festival constantly found
new venues, new courtyards.
This year I'm loving
Living Courtyards
where our crew reintegrate the
inhabitants of
the courtyard and the
artists from elsewhere.
These may just be my favorite
venues of the moment.
They're small and intimate. I get
text messages at 1 am saying:
It's raining in the courtyard, but
100 people are dancing in the rain.
That's what makes Lent
Festival so special.
What color is Lent?
It's green to me
even though there aren't many trees.
- Lots of colors.
- Red.
Blue.
- Green is for joy and health.
That's how I feel.
- The sky and the river are blue.
It's blue.
The colors of a magical rainbow.
We felt people needed somewhere
to go after midnight
so they could have fun
after concerts too.
Electronic music is presented
as an equal alongside bands,
young urban bands,
which we featured together with the Mladina Stage.
The Mladina Stage provides an
opportunity to young bands so
they can introduce themselves
to the many visitors of Lent.
I fall in love with something
every year during Lent.
- I fell in love once.
- During Lent festival I started dating 
with my first girlfriend.
I met my friend there 
16 years ago.
- Go on, tell them.
- I don't know. Maybe three or four.
Nothing too serious.
These things happen when you're young.
What does Lent smell of?
First of all, it smells of meat.
When you stroll along the promenade,
you can smell sea food.
It smells of spring and joy.
- Then it smells of bread.
- It smells of music, food, and drinks.
Of the new and old,
known and unknown.
Metaphorically speaking it smells of
friendship, hanging out, and nice moments.
It depends on where you are,
but most of all it smells of stars.
It spawned the birth of a new movement.
We invited the
Ana Monro Theatre from
Ljubljana because we wanted a
street theatre festival. Many
people don't know the fact
that the Ana Desetnica Festival
originates from Maribor.
For a long time people were convinced
that the inhabitants of Maribor
are more friendly and open than
the inhabitants of Ljubljana.
I don't think this is true anymore.
Slovenia has become more as one.
If there was no Lent,
there would be no us.
Thank you, Lent.
The most important thing when it
comes to Lent is the fact that
the locals have embraced it as
their own and that's what matters.
That's when a festival is good.
If it's created just for the 
purpose of being,
it never really gets a
life of its own.
That's happened to many
festivals in Ljubljana.
Lent is not like that.
I feel like the people of Maribor 
are proud of it.
Everyone can find something to do.
Children and parents go to the park,
rockers go to the Večer Stage, the
older rockers go to the Jurček Stage.
The more demanding audiences
go listen to jazz and so on.
People have found
where they want to be throughout the years.
The festival will go on.
This year is certainly not the end of it.
I grew up with the festival.
I don't want it
or me to vanish from
the face of the Earth.
Whoever hasn't been here should come.
Any day is good. Maybe come next year.
