The Speyer Brezelfest is an annual

Volksfest A ( ; 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 rides, g ...

(

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 China *Qingdao International Beer Fes ...

and

travelling funfair A traveling carnival (American English), usually simply called a carnival, travelling funfair or travelling show (British English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chan ...

) in honour of the

pretzel A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baking, baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twi ...

in the city of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, 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 Upper Rhine ( ; ; kilometres 167 to 529 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between the Middle Bridge, Basel, Middle Bridge in Basel, Switzerland, and the Rhine knee in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Germany. It is surrounded by the Upper Rhine P ...

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