August 10, 2020 - On Friday, August 7, the 7th EVO RUKE! summer music festival began at Đardin park in Split.  This modern urban music festival turns Đardin into an oasis of jazz, blues and rock'n'roll. 

Visitors can enjoy the live performances of local performers on 29 summer evenings, starting every day at 21:00. And the best part? The entrance is completely free.

The festival was opened by the band Atomsko Sklonište and it will last until September 6th, when it will be closed by the famous hip hop band from Split, TBF.

„At the first edition of the festival, I came across an Irishman in the audience who asked me what #evoruke means and what is its translation in English. At that point, neither he nor I were able to agree on anything meaningful or similar in English. We discussed for more than half an hour and I don't even remember how many different interpretations I presented to him in Croatian“, explains Stevo Vučković Stivi, the founder and executive producer.

Vučković spent his whole life making music, both in rock and blues bands, such as Vukojarac and Stividen and he also played in the world tours with Goran Karan's band.

„My life choices are music and art, but not overly molded/commercial, but the other one that would like to 'fix things'. I don't need any special motivation, I just hope I'm doing it OK, for general well-being and my motives are not material ones“, Vučković adds.

As for the audience, it depends on the performer. Considering that the band who was performing at the opening of the festival sing in Croatian, the audience was mostly local. The next day, when the Pink Panther Band was performing, with the repertoire of world hits, 75% of the audience were tourists.

„Last year's edition of EVO RUKE! festival was visited by approximately 220,000 people and the ratio was fifty-fifty. But it's all inaccurate because I'm not dealing with counting, but looking to push the quality to the top“, Vučković says.

Considering the current situation with the coronavirus, the festival has adapted to the measures and recommendations of the Croatian Institute for Public Health.

The number of visitors is limited to 1,000, with maximum respect for physical distance, hand disinfection and other necessary measures to combat the spread of the virus.

„In the first place is the health and safety of visitors, and the further issues is how to achieve the audience-performer interaction and that indescribable energy and love for which we come to watch live concerts. But this is a problem that all artists/performers in the world currently have. We mobilized to the maximum to make visitors feel comfortable as possible, as if there is no epidemic“, Vučković concludes.

The program for this years' edition of EVO RUKE! festival can be found below.

• FRI 07.08. ATOMSKO SKLONIŠTE
• SAT 08.08. PINK PANTHER BAND
• SUN 09.08. LITTLE SISTER
• MON 10.08. ELENA STELLA & A. J. JAZZ TRIO
• TUE  11.08. GOODIES
• WED 12.08. HARPOON BLUES BAND
• THU 13.08. THE FOGSELLERS ŠIBENIK
• FRI 14.08. THE SPLITTERS
• FRI 14.08. OSMI PUTNIK
• SAT 15.08. DREAMERS BAND
• SUN 16.08. MEDIJ
• SUN 16.08. NOPLING
• MON 17.08. NOA
• TUE 18.08. MIND ZOO
• TUE 18.08. LAST MAN STANDING
• WED 19.08. EKSJUROK
• THU 20.08. FRANCESCO & SOUTHERN COOKING
• FRI 21.08. TEŠKA ODLUKA
• SAT 22.08. NOLA
• SUN  23.08. CIMA & CO
• MON 24.08. ROCKY ROAD
• MON 24.08. IN ROOTS
• TUE 25.08. AFTERFIRE BAND
• WED 26.08. TRIO TRABACOOL
• THU 27.08. BRAVO BAND SPLIT
• FRI 28.08. 3. SPLIT OPEN JAZZ FAIR
• SAT 29.08. 3. SPLIT OPEN JAZZ FAIR
• SUN 30.08. ZLATNI GRGUR 2020.
• MON 31.08. RIFFOVSKI
• MON 31.08. GO LILLY
• TUE 01.09. TRIO BRODARIĆI
• WED 02.09. COMING SOON
• THU 03.09. JEREMIAH'S - SV. FILIP I JAKOV
• FRI 04.09. 10. SPLIT BLUES FESTIVAL - IN MEMORIAM JADRAN ZLODRE
• SAT 05.09. 10. SPLIT BLUES FESTIVAL - IN MEMORIAM JADRAN ZLODRE
• SUN 06.09. TBF

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October 7, 2019 - The Split Tourist Board is moving quickly to plan this year's Advent festivities, and has revealed some exciting new attractions this year. 

With the summer over, we must move our focus onto the next eventful season and look forward to what’s in store this Christmas and New Year’s holiday. Fortunately, for the citizens of Split, all winter events could already be known by the end of this month.

Namely, Splitski Dnevnik writes that the Split Tourist Board has already announced two important competitions - one, for the organizer of the New Year's Eve party, and another for an ice skating rink at Dardin park.

Thus, after last year's Advent events, there will likely be an ice skating rink at Dardin, similar to the one in Zagreb. The competition for all interested parties is open for another ten days, and 400,000 kuna will be provided.

Those wishing to compete must submit a detailed program description and financial offer, and must have at least three years' experience organizing the same or similar events. Also, applicants must not owe the City of Split.

The Advent cottages we enjoyed at Dardin last year will remain, and the ice skating rink will only serve to enhance the atmosphere. 

“The rink will be a part of the Advent events, like in Zrinjevac, and it will be one of the novelties during the Advent celebration. The rink will act as paths between the cottages and an additional offer to the citizens of Split and tourists during the Christmas holidays,” says Split Tourist Board director Alijana Vukšić.

The ice skating rink must have a total capacity for 200 skaters, free skating for Split's kindergarten and elementary school children should be organized in the morning from 10 am to 1 pm every day except weekends and holidays, and there must be an exciting opening and closing program.

The organizer must also set up four catering cottages, one for merchants, and one for storing equipment and selling tickets. Opening hours will be from 10 am to 9 pm.

Recall, Split first had an ice skating rink at Prokurative nine years ago. 

Furthermore, call for proposals to select the organizer of the “New Year's Eve 2020” concert has also been launched.

The organizer must ensure the following:

A.) design the program to follow new trends in local and foreign music, with performances by pop stars and renowned musicians, B.) stage, lighting and sound must be part of the offer and designed in a sophisticated manner, C.) room for VIP guests, D.) 5 minutes of fireworks, E.) perform all other necessary activities to hold a safe and legal event, F.) the duration of the program is from 31 December 2019 at 9 pm to 1 January 2020 at 2 am.

The Split Tourist Board, in cooperation with the City of Split, will provide financial support of 500,000.00 kuna gross to co-finance the event. The Split Tourist Board and the City will also provide and allow the organizer to use the public area where the reception is held for free. 

The deadline to submit offers ended on September 19, 2019. 

Although the competition ended, the bidder has not yet been selected because the decision of the Tourist Board is pending. Thus, who will organize the New Year's Eve party on the Riva will be known after the competition for the ice skating rink at Dardin has been completed.

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

With the fan zone at Đardin park and, of course, Croatia’s incredible run in this year’s World Cup, the euphoria in Split grew day by day. After 31 days of great events, the euphoria of fans in Split reached its peak when five of Croatia’s silver medalists were welcomed on the Riva in front of more than 100,000 fans.