This summer, the museum offers tours on board a small motorised train, called "Around Latvia in 30 Minutes" - the train plies along the museum's main path and the Jugla Lake shore. The passengers will be able to get off the train anyplace to explore the area, and board the next rain upon producing their ticket.

The museum now also offers beauty and health services - the sauna meadow will be open on June 4 and 5, and visitors to a real Lavian sauna will be offered the traditional Latvian sauna routine by the sauna-keeper, including the tradition of beating sauna goers with birch bunches.

Jāņi Midsummer night celebrations will be organised on an unprecedented scale this year - the celebrations will start already on June 19 and conclude with a large-scale open-air party in the morning of June 24. During this period, all the exhibits of the museum will come to life - there will be activities taking place in and at every building, including grass mowing, cheese making, garden weeding, wood splitting, decorating buildings, and much more. Visitors to the museum will be informed how Jāņi was celebrated in each province of Latvia, and during this period the museum will also organise the Gourmet Day, Crafts Day, Ancestral Traditions Day, Day of Decorations, Garlands Day. The celebrations will begin in earnest in the evening of June 23, featuring games, songs, garlands, bonfires as well as the traditional caraway cheese and beer.

The museum has also begun preparations for setting a new Guinness world record - making the world's largest wooden spoon. The first stage in setting the record will take place during the museum's crafts fair on June 4 and 5, when any person will be able to contribute to making the Baltic's largest wooden spoon that might be up to three meters long!

Another novelty this season is the Modern Crafts Fair, due August 27. The traditional crafts fair at the beginning of June is a display of ethnographic arts and crafts, while the Modern Crafts Fair will offer contemporary craft objects by young artists and craftsmen, who often use non-traditional materials in their work.

Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum is located beside Lake Jugla, the museum is open every day from 10 a .m. to 5 p.m. Latvian farmers, craftsmen and fishermen's homesteads from all provinces of Latvia are displayed at the museum. All the buildings house traditional household objects and interiors that characterise a given time period, region and trade of their former owners.

For more information about the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, please see here.