Blueberry Fest in Jelova Gora

By: Bojana Jankovic
Uzice, July 14, (Serbia Today)- With the ambition to promote blueberry growing and to help protect the nature of Jelova Gora, every year in July an ecological-promotional manifestation “Days of blueberries” is held.
This Sixth traditional manifestation started on July 9, 2009. Sponsors were the town of Uzice, Insurance company “Ere”, “Uzice gas”, Regional Chamber of Commerce, Eco Fund, Serbia forest, EPS, Ist Point Sevojno and NIKE, while contributors were: the Photo Star, Alfa TV, TV 5, Lav TV, S-star, San Radio, Radio Uzice, Luna Radio and Radio 31.
Blueberries, called “blue gold”, have a special significance, because of their exceptional quality, and, among other things, high anti-cancerogenic property.
A representative and host of the manifestation, Mr. Slobodan Poznanović told Serbia Today about the importance of blueberries and how they are harvested: “This year we went with the eco-patrol, where we attended every day the picking of blueberries, and we have already had an impact on conscienceless pickers. That is, conscientious pickers finger pick the blueberries and can harvest daily 4-5 kilograms, while conscienceless pickers, which pick by combing and destroy this way lot of blueberries, can gather up to 30 kilograms. Blueberries are very healthy and during the season we can harvest about 9 tons.''
Of course, this event was accompanied by entertainment, which included the soccer and basketball match, music and folkloric performances, and the “Miss Blueberry” pageant. This year’s Pageant Winner is Mirela Kremic from Gostinica. The second place went to Marijana Milojevic, from the same village, and the third to Andelka Nestorovic, from Uzice. All three winners received as an award, a weekend at Zlatar’s lake.
With the desire and hope that next year the weather will serve us better, the event was completed about 8 PM with the famous national dish – bean soup. Jelova Gora is densely forested corrugated plateau situated twelve kilometers northwest from Uzice.