After a two-year break due to the epidemic, this year we again successfully prepared the Dried Fruit Festival. In the morning, 52 participants first walked the traditional Hike at Trubar's birth parish from Turjak to Rašica, then through Škocjan to Gradež. This year, due to the rain of the previous days, we adjusted the hike a little so that we would not be knee-deep in mud.

A lot was happening in Gradež during this time. Our members diligently prepared delicious food, the stallholders had already exhibited their home-made products and crops, the performers were preparing... After greetings from President Lojzet Senčar and Mayor dr. Tadej Malovrha's cultural program with folk songs was first performed by our Krheljčki, then by the young Prgarčki from Zasip near Bled, and finally by the folklore group Grmada from Veliki Poljane near Ribnica.

In the culinary workshop, the mayor, the young Prgarčki, our member Meta Klančar and Milka Debeljak from the Association of Rural Women of Velika Lašče prepared different types of štruklji (cooked wrapped dough). The moderator was Jože Starič, and the well-respected nutrition expert Marija Merljak commented on the preparation of the delicacies.

Visitors could see the heritage of the village and learn all about fruit drying, which was provided by our guides. Under the haystack with an exhibition of old tools, our members demonstrated traditional rural tasks, Joža Koprivec spun on a "new" spinning wheel donated by Ivan Rekajne. Children could try their hand at scout games, and everyone could also shoot with a bow. The visitors who enjoyed all the delicacies, especially in our special offer (millet and buckwheat porridge and Gradeška desserts), also bought all the lottery tickets with their full winnings. In the evening, they danced to the sounds of the Pojav ensemble.

Finally, there are two special features: the participation in the march and the event was international, as we included a Slovak who has been working in our region for six years, and two relatives of the Strle family from America, from Minnesota and Texas.

At the rich exhibition of mushrooms, gathered in the rain, which reached a record 101 different types of mushrooms this year, we also had a very rare protected mushroom Boletus dupainii, for which even an expert from the mushroom association said she had not seen for 30 years. Our member Roman Jeglič found him practically at home in "Štajnbrik".

It is more in Trobla.

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