THEY’LL be in the pink in Lithuania next Spring as they celebrate one of the oddest events in Europe – a three-day festival in honour of … cold beetroot soup. Yes, you read that right. Cold. Beetroot. Soup.

But in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, the unlikely delicacy is a big deal. The Pink Soup Festival – no messing about with fancy names here – is staged in celebration of the iconic dish šaltibarščiai.

It’s traditionally made using cooked beets, cucumber, dill, chives, eggs and fermented kefir milk, and I’m assured that it’s delicious. Plenty agree. So much so that 2,000 Brits were among the crowds at this year’s event.

Next year, the festival runs from May 29 to 31 in Vilnius, and will include a costume competition, parades, sports events – watch those waiters running through the streets with trays of soup – and lots of dining.

Costumes are a central part of the festival, with streets overflowing with visitors dressed in pink from head to toe, and wearing everything from tulle skirts and gowns to furry mascot outfits and wigs.

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There’ll be dancers, stilt walkers, marching bands, acrobats, foam slides and even pets in fancy dress. And, of course, pink is the colour to wear for guests, too. This year, the festival attracted 93,000 of them.

“The festival has grown so rapidly since its debut three years ago that it can no longer be contained in a single day,” says Eglė Girdzijauskaitė, at Go Vilnius, the city’s tourism and business agency.

“We’re seeing visitors coming not only from Vilnius and neighbouring states but also from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and other European countries.”

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There are direct flights to Vilnius from London Stansted, London City, and London Luton several times a week. Lthuanian capital also serves as a base for regional holidays with rail links to Riga and Warsaw.

For more info about the Pink Soup Festival, or about Vilnius in general, head to the tourism bureau site here. Images: Go Vilnius