Roštiljijada

Roštiljijada or Leskovac Roštiljijada (Serbian Cyrillic: [Лесковачка] Роштиљијада / Serbian: [Leskovačka] Roštiljijada; also Serbian Cyrillic: Роштиљада / Serbian: Roštiljada) is a yearly grilled meat barbecue-based festival organised at the beginning of September in Leskovac, Serbia. During the event, the main boulevard is closed for traffic, night and day for five days, with grill stands constructed to create many temporary restaurants. Many visitors from all over Serbia and many tourists from abroad come to Leskovac for the event. The organisers hold competitions, such as making the world's biggest pljeskavica.^[1] The festival is the highlight of the season in Leskovac.

Leskovac Grill Festival Роштиљијада Roštiljijada
A typical stand
Location(s)	Leskovac, Serbia
Years active	from 1989, annually

To attract tourists from Serbia and abroad, the tourist organization organizes every year attractive concerts,^[2] fashion shows, carnivals, Miss Election during the period of Roštiljijada festival. So far a lot has been done by raising quality, organizing a festival modeled on the Oktoberfest in Munich, such as a media presentations and good marketing which resulted in a very successful festival. According to the City Tourist Board, the number of visitors is one of the top touristic events in Serbia. In 2013, a record number of 600,000 people^[3] visited the festival.^[4] More than 200 barbecues were operational.^[5]

In addition to guests from Serbia, many visitors from abroad visit festival as well mostly from Slovenia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Romania and France.

World records

World biggest Pljeskavica (burger), 2016

In September 2016, Leskovac celebrated a world record in making the world's biggest Pljeskavica. The giant burger weighed 63 kilograms (139 lb), was 169 centimetres (67 in) in diameter and 8 centimetres (3.1 in) thick and made by the great grill master Predrag Lazarević^[6] (and his team: Ljubiša Đorđević and Bojan Živković). Đorđević previously held the world record for his Pljeskavica (49 kilograms (108 lb) in 2009).^[6]

International carnival

See also: Federation of European Carnival Cities

In 2009, Leskovac officially became an International carnival city, admitted by The Association of European Carnival Cities, which has over 50 members from Europe and America. The Leskovac carnival is held in a time of the Roštiljijada festival. Around 1,200 people take part in the carnival, of which one third come from abroad. The city government considered having a separation of this event in 2010, as a special tourist event which is going to be introduced as a special offer of the city.^{[citation needed]}

Scene from Roštiljijada from the air