Achema, the largest fertilizer factory in the Baltic states, is located nearby the city.

[7] Each year during the midsummer holiday Jonava is declared a one-day 'Republic of Johns' (Lithuanian: Jonų Respublika).

[8][9][10][11] The Jonava's Republic of Johns has thousands of citizens not only from Lithuania, but also from many foreign countries (e.g. Poland, Croatia, Austria, Mexico, Italy, United States, etc.).

An explosion occurred in the chemical fertilizers factory on 20 March 1989, causing a leakage of nearly 7,500 tonnes of liquid ammonia.

The catastrophe developed further into a fire within the nitrophosphate facility and fertilizer storehouses polluting the atmosphere with products of their combustion, such as nitrous oxide and chlorine.

The concentration of ammonia surpassed the permissible level by a factor of 150 in Upninkai, at 10 km from the disaster site.

Jonava has a strong women's volleyball team Achema-KKSC that playing in the highest league A Grupė.

During the traditional midsummer holiday there was "Jonas's Republic President Cup" of Rally Slalom events.