Lapės – Lapės is an old settlement in Kaunas district, central Lithuania, which is famous because of the ruins of Lapės manor. The manor had quite a few owners, they changed over the centuries. From 1939 November 21st to 1940 June 15th the manor was ruled by Antanas Merkys. Later on Lapės manor became the Prime Minister’s summer residence. Also, The President of the Republic Antanas Smetona and other high-ranking officials from abroad often visited it.
Today Lapės is one of the most attractive places to live. Picturesque Neris valleys, fresh pine forests, convenient communication with the city, good roads, developed infrastructure… Due to these advantages, Lapės attracts both investors and residents. Companies like Draseikiu quarry and UAB Poliplastas – manufactures swimming pools and wind turbine equipment decided to have an establishment here. We can not forget Lapės landfill, maintained by UAB Kauno švara. The town has had its own fire station since 2012. UAB Lapių agropaslaugos, UAB AML prekyba, UAB Druskininkų RASA have their own well in Lapės too.
One of the reasons why Lapės people have submitted an application to participate in the “Contemporary Neighbourhoods” project is the fact that the village has its own landfill. For many, this place is associated with this word, so the Lapės communities and other partners have come together to change this identity.
As part of the project, a survey was prepared to find out the words that identify Lapės. It has been confirmed that the landfill, the foxes, the former LNK studio and the garden communities are what reflect the face of the village. In order to change the face of Lapės and have a solution for a problem the first community sustainability festival was organized. It helped to draw attention to the increased culture of consumption and environmental problems. Until then, cognitive trips were organized to get to know the area, a lot of meetings, workshops, discussions, which allowed not only to gather the community, but also to communicate about the upcoming movement in Lapės.
The festival is intended to grow, involving more artists, partners, communities. After the festival, the slogan of that year seemed to be the footprint created by Algimantas Slapikas, a work of art – “FOX-BOX” – a symbol of foxes fleeing from the container, which leaves a multipoint in the minds of passers-by and helps to start a conversation.
In the future, Lapės will look for original ways to further develop the theme of sustainability by organizing and implementing artistic and cultural activities that involve the community and foster a love of nature conservation. We hope that we will soon be able to meet at the Lapės Sustainability Festival!

Brief statistics: Participates in the project since 2020: 1 festival was organized, attracting almost 400 spectators and participants, 21 activities were organized (workshops, discussions, picnics, a second hand market, meetings), 379 participants, 18 partners, 2 additional sponsors, 16 external professionals, 1 long-term worker, 15 local volunteers.
If you want to join the organization of the festival or other activities of the project “Modern Elders” in Lapės write an e-mail: [email protected].
We thank Emilija Smilinksiate and Ausrina Vilimaite, volunteers of Kaunas 2022, for preparing the text!
M. Plepys and A. Aleksandravicius captured the moments of the “Šiuolaikinės seniūnijos” project.

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