The North American premiere: the procession into UAFest
The cloth's first stop outside Europe. Adults, teens and children carried it from the Roy Brown Statue into Riverside Park, where it was shown at UAFest.
The cloth made its first stop outside Europe at UAFest, the Ukrainian festival of Lanark County, in Riverside Park. The procession gathered at the Roy Brown Statue and carried the rushnyk into the park — adults, teenagers, and children who came with their parents' consent. Lanark County's own panel, made here in the county, joined the cloth during the festival. It is the first panel added on this side of the ocean. Olga Ialovenko, President of the Ukrainian Community of Lanark County, told The Lanarkist what the day was about: different hands and communities become one when people carry the cloth together.
The day in facts
- Who carried
- Adults, teens, and children with a parent's consent
- When
- Sunday, 13 September 2026 · gathered at 11:00
- Starting point
- Roy Brown Statue, 206 Bridge St., Carleton Place
- The planned route
- Across the bridge, along Bridge Street and Lake Avenue, into Riverside Park
- What people wore
- Light-coloured T-shirts and jeans, or vyshyvankas
- Supervision
- Adults walked with the children the whole way
- A first for the cloth
- Lanark County's own panel joined the cloth: the first panel added on this side of the ocean
- Who runs it
- UAFest · Ukrainian Community of Lanark County
The day in photographs
Misha Lytvynyuk
The festival photo archive
Send your photos, take a certificate
Your frames of the day — the stage, the market, the kids' zone, the procession, the convoy, or a past festival. Every sender gets a named participant certificate; 10 photos and 3 shares enter the draw for a panel embroidered into the Rushnyk itself.
The Rushnyk in 2027
- The Rushnyk of Unity keeps travelling, and the walk is planned again.
- The list hears first when places to carry it open.
- Stitching a panel or hosting the Rushnyk in your city goes in the note.