Territory: 279 km2

Population: 1394 (01.01.2013.)

Largest populated places: Lugaži, Sēļi, Pedele, Zīle, Saule, Ķeizarpurvs, Žuldiņas, Kalnstaldoti, Tomēni, Alieši, Bērzezers

Coat of arms of Valka parish:

Heraldic description – Cleaved with silver and purple. Scattered silver blooms from men’s cuckoo flower.

Ideological description – Orchid men’s cuckoo flower was selected as the basic symbol of the coats of arms. It’s a special protected and rarely found plant in Latvia, but it’s a common plant in our parish – Northern Gauja landscape territory. The purple was selected to highlight the Latvian – Estonian singularity in our parish, because the purple color is frequently found in folk costumes from areas of Valka and Estonia. Also the flower cobs of men’s cuckoo flower are purple. The author of the coat of arms – Reinis Doršs.

Geographical position

The parish is located around Valka town, it has borders with the Republic of Estonia. According to the size, it is the largest parish in Valka district. The currentparishboundariesformed in year 1954 when the villages of Valka, Lugaži and Pedele were unified together during the territorialreform. The Valka parish was created in year 1909. Historicallyeconomicactivity is mentionedin year1334 asLugažuManor. Mostpart of the parish is covered by forests, therefore the main occupation is logging and woodworking for the residents of the parish. Forests aresupervised byValkaforestry. A woodworking andlogging company called “VĀRPAS 1” is operating in the parish.

Also a rural tourism is developing in the parish. Several businessmen have started building guest houses. The major agricultural producers are Ltd. “VALDRO AGRO”, farm “LIEPAINES” (milk farming), farm “KALNIEŠI” (grain farming, pig farming), farm “DIMANTI” (milk farming), farm “AIZUPES” (milk farming).