The Speyer Brezelfest is an annual

Volksfest A Volksfest ( ; German for "people's festival")Cognate of "folk festival" in English is a large event in German-speaking countries which usually combines a beer festival or wine festival and a travelling funfair. Attractions may include amusement ...

(

beer festival A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales. Asia * Singapore holds an annual Beer Festiva ...

and

travelling funfair A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

) in honour of the pretzel in the city of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

, Germany, running the second weekend of July from Thursday-evening to Tuesday-night.

History

The festival was initiated in 1910 by the Speyer tourist association to promote the sales of Speyer breweries, pretzel bakers and cigar factories. Today it is the largest beer festival in the

Upper Rhine The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the ...

region and attracts about 300,000 visitors. The festivities are officially opened by the mayor on Friday evening, when he taps the first barrel of beer. They include a number of other events, such as contests, a “Brezelfest marathon” (8.2 km), fireworks on Sunday and Tuesday evening and a parade on Sunday with about 100 bands, clubs and floats.

References

Speyer Beer festivals in Germany Fairs in Germany Culture of the Palatinate (region) Annual events in Germany Pretzels {{Germany-festival-stub