Leipzig – FULL, FULL, PENTECOST! More than 300,000 guests flooded the city at the weekend – more than ever before!
The man behind the record: Stadtfest impresario Bernd Hochmuth (69). After two years of the Corona forced break, he and his team have led the city center to new heights. 150 hours of free programming, 603 artists on the stages.
And the full-maker is already promising: “Next year, for the 30th city festival, we’ll top it off again!”
Tired but happy: City Festival organizer Bernd Hochmuth
247,000 passers-by were counted on Grimmaische Straße over the three days! “It was a great weekend,” says DJ Roman Knoblauch (53). “I did twelve hours on Saturday and eleven hours on Sunday. There was an unbelievable, almost unreal energy! Even when it started raining, everyone stayed and sang along!”
It was particularly lucrative for restaurateurs with city festival stands or to-go business. Eberhard Wiedenmann (61, “San Remo”) generated 15 percent more sales than at peak times.
“Pentecost is the best weekend of the year anyway,” explains Henrik Dantz (48), “Pinguin, Café Central and Spizz were so full that the service could hardly manage it.”
But city festival plus Wave Gothic Meeting (WGT) on the same weekend are not beneficial to all hosts. The upscale gastronomy even went away empty-handed due to the double event. Gritt Englert (47, “Weinstock”): “The guests who want to eat in peace stay away. The WGT alone is actually better for us.”
Actually was this weekend the Herbert Grönemeyer concert was planned, but had to be canceled (Corona!). That hits the Whitsun balance of the hoteliers. “With an occupancy rate of 95 percent, we couldn’t catch up with the many cancellations,” says Christian Kohnert (39), hotel manager at the Premier Inn.
Leuschnerplatz: At the concert of the local heroes from the “Firebirds” the fans crowd
And even if the visit to the city festival itself was free, the prices at the food stands rose noticeably: 4 euros for a cup of water, 4 euros for a bratwurst, 5 euros for 0.4 liters of beer.
“Significantly more than last time,” says a restaurateur. “But we must also adjust our prices, like all…”
