The middle of the month of June is reserved for the Great Fair (Spravišće) in Križevci, where several events take place, the major being the staging of the reconciliation between the “plum dealers of Kalnik” and “the burghers of Križevci”. The story is as old as 1242 when King Bela IV took refuge from the Tatar invasion, on the castle of Kalnik, on the hillside of the mountain of the same name. Kalnik was under siege by the Tatars whose intention was to make them starve and force to surrender. The Kalnik peasants, however, managed to feed the defenders of the castle and the King Bela IV himself, with plums – and thus forced Tatars to give up their siege. As a sign of gratitude, King Bela IV treated the Kalnik defenders with the noble status which enraged the “burghers of Križevci”. The long-time animosity ad arguments finally ceased with the wedding of a plum dealer from Kalnik and a “burgher” girl.
Every year this is staged as the reconciliation of the opposing sides, while the key to the town is handed over into the hands of the town judge who governs the old Royal Borough of Križevci for three days.