In one of the color photographs, you can see the New Year's motto that adorned the entrance to the Lenin House of Culture: "All roads and orbits are open for you."
Olga Vladimirovna recalls that at that time the USSR was actively developing its space program, and cosmonauts often returned for the holiday. As a result, the words "rocket," "orbit," and "satellite" were on everyone's lips, and many boys from her class dreamed of becoming cosmonauts.
According to her, the main New Year tree was set up not in the central square, but in the House of Culture itself, on the second floor, right in front of the entrance to the cinema hall. Around this tree, real and fresh, townspeople would dance in circles with Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. "At that time, New Year's performances and concerts were held in the cinema hall. The morning performances lasted a whole week, and several shows were held daily. Children of employees from local enterprises gathered there — about 12,000 to 15,000 schoolchildren. Since the House of Culture could accommodate no more than three hundred people at a time, up to 5 performances were organized each day to reach all the kids and give each one a sweet gift funded by the city budget. No one in the authorities considered this anything special; it was the norm for 10,000 to 15,000 schoolchildren to receive gifts. Schools also held their own morning performances," noted Olga.
