The "City of Dreamers" was built in St. Petersburg for the "Scarlet Sails" holiday

A whole city has grown up on the Palace Square of St. Petersburg - the "City of Dreamers". There have never been such large-scale decorations at the Scarlet Sails alumni festival before. A train will pass through the stage, a ship will pass, and a huge lighthouse will light up. And that's just part of how the show will surprise its viewers. The concept of the water-pyrotechnic part of the holiday has also become known. Natalia Oskerko, a correspondent for Izvestia, told the details.

The words "seeing graduates off to the future" are not a metaphor. The decorators created a train especially for the Scarlet Sails holiday. A 15-meter mock-up of a high-speed train will drive across the stage at the Palace Square. And this is not the only transport on the site.

"Different pairs of presenters will ride along the podium, as if sailing on a "paper boat". The platform is specialized, radio—controlled, there will be no wires, rails, nothing, there will just be beautiful movement," said Alexey Bulgakov, technical director of the concert part of the Scarlet Sails festival.

The scene of "Scarlet Sails-2026" is a "City of Dreamers" with a train station, a shipyard, a lighthouse mast more than 30 meters high and separate buildings.

"At a height of more than 13 and a half meters, a DJ console will be installed, behind which one of the artists will perform, who clearly has a difficult path to the top," the correspondent said.

Special effects will enliven this city. The organizers will create a virtual space using multimedia screens with an area of more than a thousand square meters. Rehearsals will begin in a few days.

"They bring the scenery to the state that will be in the show. It's just a little bit left, and the director will master the site and realize all his ideas," said Artem Smirnov, head of the technical directorate of the concert part of the Scarlet Sails festival.

Tatiana Kurtukova, Yulianna Karaulova, Alyona Sviridova and Grigory Miroshnichenko, Julia Peresild and the MANDRAGORA band, Lucy Chebotina, Alex Lim, and Yelka will perform on stage.

The Scarlet Sails Alumni Celebration was revived in 2005 on the initiative of ROSSIYA Joint Stock Bank, the Government of St. Petersburg and Channel Five. This is a real miracle for tens of thousands of schoolchildren and millions of viewers around the world. In 2026, there will also be a fairy tale, which will be the key theme of the water and pyrotechnic show.

"We use certain images embedded in many Russian fairy tales to make a projection on understandable values: friendship, kindness, love. All these images are stitched into our DNA," explained Mikhail Kolpakhchiev, chief production director of the Scarlet Sails water and pyrotechnic show.

Thanks to modern technologies, fresh arrangements and original decorations, the stories familiar to everyone will sound completely different. Each mise en scene is like a separate mini—performance with a generous Russian scope.

"About 10,000 beads and stones were used for the costume, for example, for our final number. Only for one suit, and there are many of them. Soul, strength, energy, emotions are invested in every costume, in every detail," said costume designer Kristina Rozhdestvenskaya.

But the culmination of the holiday is always the same — the appearance of the snow-white brig Rossiya, the sky of St. Petersburg painted with fireworks and the admiring glances of those who, together with scarlet sails, will meet their first adult dawn. The fairy tale will come to life, and dreams will become reality on June 27.

Going ashore: graduates met the brig Rossiya and heard the Katyusha volleys

The grandiose celebration "Scarlet Sails" in St. Petersburg was dedicated to the theme of victory

On June 12, the first rehearsal of "Scarlet Sails - 2026" took place in St. Petersburg: the legendary brig Rossiya sailed along the Neva River, and specialists carefully worked out the route and all the technical details. For this event, the bridges in the city were built before sunset, and guests from all over the country came to the embankments. The audience had a rare opportunity to see the Brig Rossiya live — during the first rehearsal without fireworks and festive lighting, but already making a strong impression and attracting the eye.