A 160.5-metre embroidered cloth created by communities across Europe will be displayed outside the continent for the first time during UA FEST in Carleton Place this September.
The cloth consists of more than 89 panels contributed by families, churches, schools and organizations supporting Ukraine and Ukrainians abroad. Some panels name two places: a hometown in Ukraine and the community where a family now lives.
Organizers say the Book of World Records certified the cloth as a European record in Tallinn on May 15.
Canada will be the next country represented in the project, with Carleton Place scheduled to become its first North American stop.
Two rushnyky, one idea
In 2013 and 2014, Andrii Yatsenko, then director of the Department of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of the Kherson Regional State Administration, led an embroidery initiative across the Kherson region.
Children, parents and teachers stitched a rushnyk in schools, kindergartens and universities. University and college students, along with cadets from the Kherson State Maritime Academy and Kherson Maritime School, carried the finished cloth – more than 700 metres long – across the Antonivskyi Bridge.
The project was intended to symbolize Ukrainian unity by joining both banks of the Dnipro. Organizers say the Ukrainian Book of Records certified it as a national record.
According to the project organizers, museum staff removed the cloth from a Kherson museum after Russian forces entered the city in 2022. They say it remains in a museum in Kherson.
A second, separate rushnyk carries the idea forward by connecting Ukrainians and their supporters outside Ukraine.
Launched by Yatsenko in Tallinn in October 2024, the Rushnyk of Unity — Rushnyk of Victory has grown panel by panel through Ukrainian communities across Europe. This is the cloth now travelling internationally and scheduled to arrive in Carleton Place.
Lanark County invited to add a panel
Each community hosting the cloth is invited to embroider a section of white linen or cotton. The requested panel is 50 centimetres wide and between 1.5 and two metres long, and may use any embroidery technique.
UA FEST is holding open stitching circles during August so local residents, Ukrainian or not, can contribute.
On Sept. 13, the Lanark County panel is scheduled to be sewn onto the rushnyk on the festival’s main stage. It will include the name Carleton Place alongside the names of Ukrainian communities connected to local participants.
The festival
UA FEST, also known as Ukrainian Fest Lanark County, runs Sunday, Sept. 13, from noon to 8 p.m. at Riverside Park, 137 John St., Carleton Place. Admission is free.
The festival began after Carleton Place resident Gloria Bradley held a garage sale in spring 2023 to help Ukrainian families who had arrived in Lanark County. Organizers say the proceeds helped pay for the first festival that September, which drew about 1,000 people.
Organizers estimate that attendance exceeded 4,000 in 2025 and say they hope to attract 5,000 people this year. The festival is organized by volunteers.
The event includes Ukrainian food, live music and dance, a craft market, children’s activities, workshops and a heritage exhibition.
Organizers say part of the festival’s annual proceeds is donated to organizations working with children affected by the war in Ukraine. Previous beneficiaries have included Rotary for Kids of Heroes, Save Ukraine and Kids of Ukraine.
Additional background and information about stitching circles are available at uafest.ca/rushnyk.
Quotes
“This rushnyk was never meant to be finished — and that’s the whole point,” Yatsenko said. “Every new stop adds a new, unique rushnyk, and Carleton Place is the first to add one beyond the ocean. It’s proof that the distance between Ukrainians is only a distance on a map, not in the heart.”
“A rushnyk was once sewn only by mothers and grandmothers, by blood, for one family,” UA FEST festival director Olga Ialovenko said. “Now it’s stitched by anyone who believes unity matters more than bloodline. Come see it begin here, in a small town – and add your own thread to a story that will outlast us all.”
SOURCE: UA Fest.
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