Long before our summer expedition we had in our mind the idea of taking our kids to the festival, a concert or a large outdoor event. We searched that there is concert in area we were driving to, a concert of our favorite band – Pidżama Porno. This concert was a part of Cieszanow Rock Festival. We didn’t know exactly where it is, but we knew that we want to go there.
Quickly we looked at the map and saw that it is on the south-eastern part of Poland, in regions in which we planned to explore during our summer escapade. So we planned our route this way to reach Cieszanow on August 21, in the day of concert.
We bought tickets before trip. In addition to admission tickets (at the price of PLN 40 per person) we also bought a ticket to the festival campsite, you had a sleep somewhere. Children both on the campsite and into the concert could come with us for free.
Cieszanow as it turns out is the Eastern equivalent of Woodstock, just a little bit on a smaller scale. We got there in the afternoon. When we arrived we saw in the town groups of rock music fans walking to the shops. We headed to the lake where festival was organized. Parking lot was simply the field. Our car stood out among the rest, was the only one with luggage rack, as the only one, too, was so heavily packed. Probably we were the only one who decided to visit this event “on the way”. Cars from Wielkopolska area were only a few.
We needed to replace our printed tickets with wristbands. With this wristbands we had access to the area where the concert took place and into the school area, which acted as a campsite. We were a little frightened when we saw a line of people waiting to establish ties – but these were people who wanted to buy a ticket on the spot. For those who bought tickets “online” was a separate, much shorter queue. Uff.
For this night we took our old tent. It was traveling with us all the time. We used it last year during our Denmark road trip. Then it was enough for us, maybe because kids were smaller. Now it looks a bit small for 5 of us. We didn’t want to set new tent here because of drunk teenagers everywhere around.
We found some free space for our tent, we set it up and pump up our mattress. We needed to carry all needed stuff from parking to campsite, because there was no possibility to park closer. Somehow we survived this one night without the use of luxuries like mobile toilets that smells really bad. When our tent has already taken place among others, you could go in the destination, where music played.
At a time we appeared on the stage was playing Coma band. We had a chance to go in around the square to see the attractions of amusement park and watch some bungee jumping. We hit a sector of the food-tracks, where we ordered something warm for supper.
About 10pm, main part began. We went with the children near the stage and had a great fun. At the festival, each band played songs chosen by fans. In the case of Pidzama Porno it was a “Marchew w butonierce”, which was played in its entirety. Our children also had the chance to listen the tracks of this album, because all the time we were driving along our road trip we were listening to this CD. We took care that the children are familiar with the repertoire of musicians.
We regred a bit that concert began so late. Children, after the morning trip in Zwierzyniec and about 60km driven in the car quite quickly were exhausted. If the concert was earlier they would benefit more.
We went to bed around midnight, in the background our favorite band was still playing. They played songs from outside the leading CD. Along the way we passed a lot of people very positively referred to the fact that we are at a concert with children.
We have good memories of the festival. We received a very positive atmosphere that prevailed there. Only in the front of the entrance (before the gates) had an average of safely, because some people drunk too much up there and police needed to take care of them. But it does not have the impact. In every social group there is some margin.
We don’t have any video from our stay in Cieszanow. There was not possible to take camera with us to the festival. We’ve asked for such permission before arrival and we were denied.