On August 12, 2026, an event celebrating Youth Day—Tartu Youth Day—took place as part of the “Tartu Sumina” festival in Tartu’s Old Town. The event was held on Rüütli Street near St. John’s Church, began at 12:00 p.m., and lasted until 9:15 p.m.
In previous years, Youth Day has been celebrated on a smaller scale in the courtyard of the Lille Youth Center in Tartu. This year, however, Tartu is the Estonian Youth Capital, and Youth Day is part of the activities of “Estonian Youth Capital Tartu 2026,” which were supported by the Ministry of Education and Research, the Erasmus+ program, and the European Solidarity Corps Agency, and co-funded by the European Union.
This wasn’t just a school project by a single student that was left to be prepared the night before; rather, it was the culmination of several months of work that began in February. The event was organized by the young people themselves: the organizing team, with nearly thirty members, consisted mainly of young people, who were assisted by youth workers. These young people weren’t just helpers; they were actively involved in creating, preparing, and carrying out the event. They were able to contribute in every area.
Before the event, the young people contacted the performers, partners, and sponsors; communicated with advertising agencies; arranged for equipment rentals; and kept track of the budget and expenses in Excel.
On the day of the event, they set up the area, erected tents, and prepared the stage and equipment for the performers; they organized various activities, guided guests, and, most importantly, they fully immersed themselves in the experience.
Various activities took place throughout the day: participants could try their hand at limbo, get their faces painted, and test their skills in a accuracy-throwing contest. In addition, the young people were able to play various video games in the digital zone and spend time with youth workers on the mobile youth work bus. Representatives from the Police and Border Guard Board were also present to showcase the police bus, and Elektrilevi gave a presentation on electrical safety. Other partners at the event included the Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum, Tartuff, the Education and Youth Department, the Youth Guarantee Support System, and the Tartu City Youth Council.
The Sharti Theater Studio kicked off its stage program with the production “Shadow Play.” Roula then shared her story of how volunteer work brought her to Estonia, and Marleen introduced the NOP youth participation program. In the panel discussion “How to Create Content Without Losing Yourself?”, Hensugusta (Henri Karpov), EstMagicz (Oliver Hollo), Cassandra Cecilia Heerik, Nele-Gabriela Linnap, and Klaudia Kaasik discussed the joys and challenges of content creation. They were followed on stage by Priidu and Saskia, who shared their diverse experiences as volunteers with the Estonian Solidarity Corps; afterward, Tartu Deputy Mayor Ulla Preeden and the evening’s hosts introduced a creative showcase, during which young people presented their various creative projects.
DJ Kalamees, DJ Kenneth, and the Zerkala Fire Theater also performed during the stage program. The last to take the stage were Clicherik (Erik Soasepp) and Mäx (Max Õispuu), two young men from Saku. Throughout the stage program, young emcees Nele-Gabriela and Robin kept the energy high and introduced the performers.
Celebrating International Youth Day was the main goal of the event, but certainly not the only one. Another goal was to raise awareness among Tartu’s youth about the opportunities offered by the Tartu Youth Work Center and other youth organizations. In addition, the young organizers gained valuable experience in organizing the event and learned to get to know each other better and to support one another, even in situations where collaboration didn’t go as smoothly as hoped.
“At a major event, there are bound to be unexpected twists and turns; plans will need to be adjusted on the fly, and maybe some things won’t go exactly as we’ve imagined. That’s perfectly okay. Our job is to be there for each other, communicate, help one another, and find solutions,” said Laura Brigitta King, the main organizer of Youth Day, encouraging the young people the evening before the big event.
“When Rüütli Street filled with hundreds and hundreds of young people on the evening of August 12, and by the time Clicheriku & Mäxi took the stage, the crowd stretched down the street as far as the eye could see, the work we’d put in over several months suddenly became truly visible. Before the event, we had hoped to host around 700 visitors throughout the day. In reality, Youth Day turned out to be much larger than that, and an estimated 2,000 people attended the event over the course of the day. It’s very hard to describe the feeling when you finally look out from the side of the stage onto Rüütli Street and see it teeming with young people. At one point, I just had tears in my eyes. Having about 1,500 people in the audience for the headliner is an incredibly powerful result, proving that young people don’t have to be just the audience for big events. They can be the ones creating them,” King described.
“/…/ There really is a lot to discover and experience here, so I hope we’ll be left with these positive feelings afterward,” commented one of the Youth Council members. “A wonderful day,” said one of the evening’s hosts, summing up the day briefly. “It was really cool, and tiring,” “It went on for a really long time,” “Everything went according to plan, and we were even ahead of schedule,” “It was a great experience where we got to spend quality time with our peers,” “It was fun,” commented the young organizers.
The event was sponsored by: A. Le Coq, Aura Keskus, Balsnack, the Estonian National Museum, Escape Tartu, SEIK Publishing, Minigolf Rio, Miniso, MyFitness, Punch Club, Santa Maria AS, Sportlex, Tartu Military Adventure, the AHHAA Science Center, and Valio. The event was funded by the City of Tartu.
This article was written by Brigita […] and Lauri Õkva, young volunteers at the Tartu Youth Work Center.
The images used were taken by Ander Iva.
You can find photos from the event here:
Photos by event photographer Ander Iva.
Photos by Eva Maria Tartu from the Tartu Old Town Festival “Sumin.”
Note: Please be sure to credit the photographer when sharing these photos publicly. Thank you!
