Every third Sunday of September, Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, marks City Day. This year, the celebrations took place on Sept. 21 and were spread across various tourist locations. A Kursiv.media correspondent visited one of the main festival venues on Sunday.
The usual hotspots for events of this kind are Panfilov Street and Arbat — the city’s main pedestrian streets — along with the square in front of the Kazakh-British Technical University on Tole Bi Street. This year, the festivities bridged tradition and technology, underscoring Kazakhstan’s chosen path toward innovation and digitalization.
One of the most popular attractions along the street was a large screen inviting visitors to take a photo, which was then processed by artificial intelligence to show how a person might look in the past or future, set against an Almaty scene from the chosen era. Several of these drew long lines of curious people of all ages.
Yet the true technological highlight of the festival was the robots. At Digital Fest Almaty, visitors watched a robot painter at work and another robot handing out apples — a symbol of Almaty — to anyone willing to take one.
No festival is complete without music. The stage near the university hosted concerts throughout the day, featuring local ethnic ensembles as well as Kazakh pop stars such as Ninety One and Kairat Nurtas.
Still, there was space for tradition. Panfilov Street showcased booths with traditional clothing, some even available for purchase. The prices, however, gave pause — one flamboyant, modern-style shapan (a traditional Kazakh coat) was priced at around $280.
For those seeking a quieter, more cultural atmosphere, the Kitap Fest book fair on Arbat offered an alternative. Stalls promoted emerging authors and publishers alongside vintage books and rare scientific works translated into Kazakh. Discussions and talks with prominent local writers added to the literary mood.
According to city authorities, more than 500,000 people attended the commemorative events, which ran across all districts of Almaty from Sept. 18 to 21.
