COVER STORY
how we closed the circle of outdoor sports, nightly
open air parties and museum tours for everyone
during the weekend of When in Krushevo, which
was visited by more than 2,000 guests.
Progress
Fast forward to the next year, and the great
potential of the Outdoor Adventure Festival When
in Krushevo was recognized and supported by the
AECOM project Move your Finger and the Swiss
embassy project Increasing Market Employability
(IME). New activities were developed, such as
kayaking and stand up paddle boarding, yoga,
Cross Fit etc. We improved the cultural segment
with local food tasting, and we had the opportunity
to massively improve the open air parties. We
had the pleasure to host Grammy awarded
reggae group The Inner Circle from Jamaica. The
event was a major success with visitor numbers
that were more than double compared to the first
year.
Winter Edition
In February 2019, the gates of Krushevo opened
for the first ever Winter Outdoor festival — When
in Krushevo: Winter is here! The organization
teamed up with local guesthouse owners and
provided significantly discounted prices for
accommodation during the event. A winter hiking
route was organized in addition to the food tasting
and indoor parties and the table was set for more
winter festivals.
Scaling Up
In June 2019 was the third edition of our outdoor
festival. We are excited and happy to have
more and more satisfied visitors. The locals are
willingly providing support and are firm believers
in our mission to set Krushevo as the capital of
outdoor sports in North Macedonia. During our
preparations, one of the locals who owns horses
came to us with a proposal to offer the guests
horseback riding tours, an activity that did not
exist in Krushevo till then. We gave him our full
support by promoting the tour as part of our
variety of activities. It turned out to be one of the
most popular experience that was fully booked
during the two days of the festival. Throughout
20
EMERGING MACEDONIA
the following summer, the horse owner prepared
marketing materials about his tours and spread
them around the town and local hotels and
guesthouses. His results were astonishing and
he was fully booked during the whole summer.
That made me and the rest the team filled with
pride and honor, knowing that we have set the
base for adventure tourism in Krushevo.
Next Steps
Our organizations is not going to remain focused
only on the winter and summer editions of the
festival. We work hard to improve them for
sure, but our main goal is to develop into a
larger community that will provide tours and
activities in Krushevo and its region year round.
Opening an office in the town and procuring our
own equipment for outdoor sports is our next
challenge. We believe that many organizations
will recognize our mission in turning Krushevo
into an outdoor capital of the country. Until then,
book your ticket for our next event, and see you
in Krushevo!