The earliest mass celebrations in the 1930s took place around the starting point of history – the Zero Point. Demonstrators walked along the streets of the Old City: Octyabrskaya, Gornaya, Zavodskaya. The places for the ceremonial rallies were the Dynamo stadium, where rallies and sports parades were organized, and the House of Engineering and Technical Workers (DITR), the most beautiful house of the 1940s, in the hall of which solemn meetings and festive concerts were held.
Over time, the Norilsk holidays have changed geography. In the 1950s, the celebrations moved to the modern district of Norilsk. Sports competitions, without which not a single summer holiday was held, moved to the new Molodezhny stadium, which was renamed Zapolyarnik later, and the Pushkin Square. The water competitions took place on Dolgoye Lake.
Demonstrations and rallies since the 1950s were held in new city squares: first Octyabrskaya, then Gvardeyskaya, Komsomolskaya, Teatralnaya, Metallurgov. In addition to banners, flags and portraits, each column had its own moving decorated platforms: the geologists had an all-terrain vehicle in the column, the Central automobile enterprise had a BelAZ mini-model, and Norilsk passenger transport enterprise had a bus. There was even an armored car, but most often ordinary trucks were used. However, the cars were practically invisible from under the red flags, slogans, boards with mottos, and other propaganda artefacts. Every company tried to be the best at it. On the mobile stands, one could see a real indigenous tent, live spruce trees, and a model of an oil rig.
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Text: Svetlana Samokhina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
