Although the weather turned autumn-like and the Apple Festival came on a weekend, neither the occasionally cloudy skies nor the rest of the day discouraged the Anykščių Vynas team from realising its beautiful goal. On the last Saturday of September, the colleagues working at the factory met in Obelų Street in Anykščiai, where they planted young apple trees on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of Anykščių Vynas.
On the symbolic day of the Apple Festival, close to 20 colleagues of Anykščių Vynas gathered to plant trees in Obelų Street as a company‘s gift to the city. Dainius Žiogelis, Deputy Mayor of Anykščiai District Municipality, was also participating. The group started the planting work almost from the very morning – after all, it was going to be a very busy day, as the factory had presented the town with more than 50 apple trees of different types.
Everyone took it upon themselves to dig the soil and plant the seedlings, sparing neither energy nor good humour. For some colleagues, the experience was quite new, but for all of them it was very meaningful.
“After all, these apple trees are our, the Anykščių Vynas factory’s, gratitude to Anykščiai and the townspeople for the fact that for 95 years now they have not only supported and promoted our activities, but also nurtured the factory and created our products, thus presenting and promoting Anykščiai not only in Lithuania, but also around the world” says Liubovė Rebiatnikova, the head of the production of Anykščių Vynas.
The woman is convinced that by presenting this gift, Anykščių Vynas has contributed to the creation of an even more pleasant environment in the city, where flowering apple trees will be a delight not only to the residents of the city, but also to the visitors to Anykščiai.
“In addition, the symbolic anniversary gift continued the factory‘s tradition – after all, Balys Karazija, who once founded Anykščių Vynas, also made sure that gardens in the whole region of Anykščiai started to turn green” points out Rebiatnikova.
Sigutis Obelevičius, the mayor of Anykščiai, shares the same opinion, thanking the factory workers for their idea and efforts.
“Planting trees on the occasion of the company’s anniversary and the Apple Festival is not only a beautiful gift to the city, but also a meaningful act, which contributes to making the apple trees in Anykščiai bloom and bear fruit. After all, strange as it may seem, there have been no apple trees on the Obelų Street so far” said Obelevičius.
The mayor also pointed out that the apple tree has always been considered a sacred tree. As a symbol of fertility, it was an integral part of rue garden, so it was as much a duty to plant it outside the house as an oak tree, which is why it has been popular in Lithuania throughout history.
“In our times, the garden has changed a little, many people see it as a fruit bearer, but can there be anything more beautiful than a thriving garden? So, thanking MV GROUP Production, one of the largest producers of beverages in the Baltic States, with one of the four branches of the company located in Anykščiai, for this beautiful gift to our city, I would like to wish not only the gardens, but also the company to blossom and beautiful new forms of cooperation” says Obelevičius.
It is also symbolic that the Anykščių Vynas factory produces natural apple wine and apple juice, for which farmers bring fresh apples from all over Lithuania every autumn. In order to take care of the surrounding environment, the apples in the factory are fully used, leaving no waste.
“Green manufacturing is a global trend that we are following. We use the apples we buy, figuratively speaking, right up to the seeds – the fruit juice is used for the production of different beverages and concentrates, while the remaining pomace is dried and sold to producers of pectin, used in the food and pharmaceutical industries” says Rebiatnikova, adding that modern technologies introduced at the factory help to ensure a waste-free production process.
