Salacgrīva (Limbaži Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. The centre of the area surrounding Salacgrīva is the mouth of Salaca River, and the town's name literally means "Mouth of Salaca" in Latvian. Since 2007, it is famous for hosting Positivus Festival every July for 3 days attracting thousands of tourists.
) is a town inThe distance from Salacgrīva to the capital of Latvia - Riga is 103 km, to Limbaži – 50 km, to Valmiera – 95 km. Export of timber, wood-working industry, food production and trade are the most important factors in the economy of Salacgrīva.
The first time Salacgrīva was known as a locality in the early 5th century, when Livonians created their settlement of Saletsa near the mouth of Salaca River. Several centuries later the knight's castle was built in honor of Bishop Albert of Riga on the right bank of Salaca River. It was attacked several times during the Livonian war, and for this reason by the end of the 17th century the castle had been severely damaged and it subsequently collapsed. The canal where the vessels sailed around the castle mound can still be seen in Salacgrīva.The Livonians continued to live in the region up until the mid 19th century when the Salaca Livonian dialect died out .
The evolution of Salacgrīva went hand in hand with the development of coastal shipping in the Gulf of Riga. To improve the accessibility for larger vessels, the riverbed of Salaca was deepened and a pier of boulders was built in the mouth of the river. Salacgrīva became an important transhipment point for the production of Northern Vidzeme – timber, linen, different crops – for it to be transported to Pärnu and Riga. Around this time, about 200 vessels entered the port, consequently promoting growth of the town and increase in the number of its inhabitants. Therefore, by the end of the 19th century there were more than 70 residential buildings and 40 warehouses. At the beginning of the 20th century, the flow of goods to Salacgrīva decreased, due to the rail infrastructure that was developed in Vidzeme and the fact that the majority of products was transported through the newly built port in Ainaži, which had a directly connection to the railway.
After the declaration of independence in Latvia in the beginning of the 20th century, the social life in Salacgrīva bloomed. With the initiative from H.Eidmanis in 1921, the first secondary school was established in Salacgrīva. On 7 February 1928, Salacgrīva gained a status of a town. Changes in economic life took place under the Soviet rule, when a fish processing plant, whose construction was initially intended for Ainaži, was built in Salacgrīva and the fishing artel "Brīvais vilnis" was established in Salacgrīva. Due to evolution of fishing industry, the port was renovated and an open-air stage was built to celebrate the well-known festival - fisherman's Day (named Sea festival from 2001).
Today, Salacgrīva is a growing provincial town of Latvia. Even today the export of timber, wood-working industry, food production and trade has a huge importance in the economic life of Salacgrīva.
Salacgrīva location on the A1 road (Latvia), part of Via Baltica international highway favors transit and transport industries.
After restoration of Latvian independence Salacgrīva municipality Tourism Information Centre was the first tourism information center in Latvia. It started its work on 21 June 1993, but was officially founded in 1994, on November 3. [3] Over the years the tourism center continues to provide travelers with helpful tips for their adventure in Salacgrīva so that they would want to return again and again. [4]
Top 5 countries from which foreign tourists arrive in Salacgrīva are Estonia, Germany, Finland, Lithuania and Russia. [5]
Most popular tourist attractions:
The Social association of Salacgrīva was established in the town at the end of the 19th century. With the help of the association on 4 August 1902, the library of the Social association of Salacgrīva was founded, which was later moved to the newly built association building, which was constructed in 1912. In the beginning, 300 books of various content could be found there, while later the number of books increased until 700 volumes. In 1957 the library was divided in two parts - Salacgrīva town library was separate from the children library.
Since 1998, when the Museum of Salacgrīva was established, it has operated as the centre of the history of the region for locals, tourists and history researchers. Materials about fishing and fisheries in the vicinity of Salaca River, the sea coast in Northern Vidzeme, about old lamprey fishing with weirs, the history of Salaca and Svētciems manor houses, on whose lands Salacgrīva developed, about the economic and political life of the town, schools, churches and temples in the vicinity, about well-known locals who have demonstrated great success in pedagogy, science, culture and arts, in business, politics and economy can be found in the archives of the Museum of Salacgrīva.
The municipality of Salacgrīva and municipality of Limbaži have jointly established a sports school - Limbaži and Salacgrīva municipality Sports school.
Most popular sport in Salacgrīva is basketball. Salacgrīva Basketball Club is the main organization that develops basketball. Their senior team, BK Salacgrīva, participates in the Latvian Basketball League 3rd division. The club consists of four teams - BK Salacgrīva, Grīva, Kopturis-A, Salacgrīvas vidusskola (the Salacgrīva Secondary School team).
First team to represent Salacgrīva city in Limbažu regional basketball championship was basketball team A/S Brīvais Vilnis in 1994. Most successful basketball team still is Zvejnieku parks, who holds 5 champion titles, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals, fallowed by BK Salacgrīva with 5 champion titles (1 as Kopturis-A/Salacgrīva). 2011 was the last season of Zvejnieku parks team, after it all basketball teams merged in one big basketball organization Basketball club Salacgrīva.
Main organized events are "Beach streetball" in Salacgrīva seashore, "Salacgrīvas Krastu mačs" where the river Salaca divides teams in two - one team represents the left side of the municipality, the other the right side.
Basketball club Salacgrīva is Latvian amateur basketball team that is based in Salacgrīva, Latvia. BK Salacgrīva is a Latvian Basketball League 3.division champion in 2014. BKS first started in LBL-3 in 2009.
BK Salacgrīva | ||||
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Leagues | RBL | |||
Founded | 2009 (1994) | |||
History | Zvejnieku parks (1999–2011) (2009–present) | |||
Arena | Salacgrīva Secondary School | |||
Capacity | 300 | |||
Location | Salacgrīva, Latvia | |||
Team colors | Blue and White | |||
Main sponsor | Council of Salacgrīva Municipality | |||
President | Jevgenijs Mihailovskis | |||
Team manager | Jevgēnijs Mihailovksis | |||
Head coach | Kaspars Neimanis | |||
Championships | 1 3.division 10 OC Limbaži | |||
Website | www | |||
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
---|---|---|---|
C | Dinārs Sārs | Valdis Cielēns | |
PF | Dins Dancis | Edgars Grants | |
SF | Rolands Dovgjallo | Ralfs Uvarovs | Renārs Kānīts |
SG | Aleksis Freibergs | Mikus Ķirsis | Kārlis Bālāboliņš |
PG | Edgars Šilbergs | Kristaps Žurakovskis | Kristiāns Bērziņš |
Colours: Red = BKS player; Grey = FABlack = OCLimbaži player; Dark Blue = Salacgrīvas vidusskola player;
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The Salaca is a river in northern Latvia. It flows from Lake Burtnieks in Vidzeme, 90 km, to the Gulf of Riga. The river flows through three towns, Mazsalaca, Staicele and Salacgrīva. The riverbanks feature Devonian red sandstone cliffs, and many caves and rapids as well. The river gives its name to a dialect of Livonian spoken on its upper banks into the 19th century, which is today extinct.
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