On 789, 7 August of 2009, the 789 Festival will take place in Odessa. Hundreds of hitchhikers from all over the world will gather in Odessa to promote hitchhiking.

Odessa or Odesa (Ukrainian: Одеса; Russian: Одесса; Romanian: Odesa; Greek: Οδησσός; Yiddish: אדעס ) is located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000.

Meeting on 789
The event will take place in Shevchenko Park, Odessa, near the Shevchenko monument.

Pre-meetings
The week before 789, several meetings all over Europe will take place. Everyone is welcome to join these meetings or set up one in his city as well!

The idea behind pre-meetings is to meet up with fellow hitchhikers along the way. For example, somebody sets up a meeting in Amsterdam five or six days before 789, hitchhikers can meet there and later hitch together to another meeting, let it be somewhere in Germany, Berlin for example. From there, further and further, until Odessa on 07/08/09.

How to set up such a pre-meeting?
It's pretty easy! The best way is to start a new topic in the forum. For the title of the new topic, choose the name of the city and the country the meeting will take place. There, you can write down all information on where you want to organize the meeting (in your favourite pub, the park, at the river, at home, etc....), what is happening, and so on! Finally, start telling people about the meeting! Add it at Events on Facebook, Couchsurfing, BeWelcome, wheverever! Let people know hitchhikers are in town!