BOK fest

At the BOK Fest every year, the most significant theatrical productions of professional theater companies from the region are presented. Theaters from Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia regularly participate in the event, and every year it is opened by actress Mila Elegović with a reinterpretation of the song “Happy Birthday” that Marilyn Monroe sang to President John F. Kennedy in 1962 in Madison Square Garden.

The festival is held in the Bjelovar Community Centre, the Bjelovar Theater and the Sports Hall, and its program includes performances for adults and children, as well as a number of accompanying activities. They are extremely diverse and include everything from music concerts and disco nights to humanitarian sports tournaments to art exhibitions signed by actors and readings of radio dramas on the train. Some of the activities are a permanent part of the BOK Fest, such as the Humanitarian Handball Tournament, where four teams – actors, journalists, politicians and members of the golden generation of Partizan Handball Club (now Bjelovar Handball Club) compete every year

For ten years now, the actors’ Motorcycle Alka has been a constant part of the event, during which the actors on the promenade in Bjelovar, riding on motorcycles, try to hit the Alka target. And apart from the excellent performances and all the accompanying activities, the actors traditionally hang out with passers-by and everyone who wants to meet and exchange a few words in the furniture salon next to the Bjelovar market every second day of the festival.