More than 20,000 people attended an ethnogastronomic festival in Karkaraly, Kazakhstan, in June 2026, where thirty-seven kumis producers competed. An official Karaganda regional report says a queue formed at the tent of Alexey Efremov and his family. His wife poured the fermented mare's milk while he worked it in a traditional kübi. Their version was distinguished by its use of smoked kazy.
Thirty tonnes of kumis were brought to the festival, yet visitors concentrated at this particular tent. The wait was not merely for a free taste: guests compared producers and participated in online and on-site voting. The queue turned a drink distributed across a large festival ground into an ordered choice of a particular maker and method.