The Street Parade is a techno music festival in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. With around one million attendees, it is the world's most attended

technoparade A technoparade (taken from the German word "Technoparade") is a parade of vehicles equipped with strong loudspeakers and amplifiers playing electronic dance music. It resembles a carnival parade in some respects, but the vehicles (called love ...

. The Street Parade takes place annually on the second Saturday in August. Officially a demonstration for freedom, love and tolerance, the parade proceeds along the northern edge of

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

. The first Street Parade (the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

name is used in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

) took place on 5 September 1992, initiated by student Marek Krynski and was officially called the Demonstration for Love, Peace, Liberty, Generosity and Tolerance (). About 1,000 people took part, dancing behind two motorized floats with sound equipment, DJs and dancers known as ''Lovemobiles''.

Organisation

Since 1996, the event has been organised by the ''Verein Street Parade'' (Street Parade Association). While the Street Parade now has all the characteristics of a popular festival, legally it is still a political demonstration.

Chronology

Notable events of the Street Parade: * 1992: The first Street Parade took place with around 1,000 participants. * 1993: The parade grew in popularity with around 10,000 attendees. * 1994: The parade faced a ban, which was later overturned due to public protests. The event moved to a new route around Lake Zurich. * 1995: The parade attracted 150,000 people and released its first official CD. * 1996: ''Verein Street Parade'' (Street Parade Association) was founded to organize the event. * 2000: The parade was broadcast live on television for the first time. * 2001: The parade had a record attendance of over one million people. * 2003: The parade route was reversed due to noise concerns. * 2005: The event faced financial difficulties but was saved by sponsors. Beer was sold for the first time, leading to some concerns about an increase in aggressive behavior. * 2007: The parade focused on the theme of "Respect" and attracted around 800,000 people. * 2009: Despite rain and concerns about swine flu, 600,000 people attended the parade. * 2010: The parade saw a slight increase in attendance compared to the previous year. A moment of silence was held for the victims of the

Love Parade disaster On 24 July 2010, a crowd disaster at the 2010 Love Parade electronic dance music festival in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, caused the deaths of 21 people from suffocation as attendees sought to escape a ramp leading to the festival ...

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

. * 2011: The parade celebrated its 20th anniversary with around 900,000 attendees. * 2020 and 2021: The parade was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. * 2022: The parade returned with nearly one million attendees. * 2023: The 30th Street Parade saw a similar attendance level as the previous year and a Swiss Federal Councillor participated in the parade for the first time. * 2024: The 31st Street Parade attracted around 920,000 attendees. The hot weather led to numerous medical incidents.

Notable DJs

Notable DJs who have participated in Street Parade include:

Carl Cox Carl Andrew Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ, motorsport team owner and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has perfor ...

David Morales David Morales (; born August 21, 1961) is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer. David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including Mar ...

Sven Väth Sven Väth (born 26 October 1964) is a German DJ and electronic music producer. He is a three-time DJ Awards winner, with a career in electronic music spanning over 30 years. The release of the single " Electrica Salsa" with OFF in 1986 launched ...

Chris Liebing Chris Liebing (born Christopher Liebing; 11 December 1968) is a German techno DJ, music producer and radio host and the founder of the record label CLR. Biography Liebing was born in Gießen, Hesse. In the early 1990, he became active on the ...

Loco Dice Loco Dice (born Yassine Ben Achour on 10 August 1974) is a Tunisian-German DJ and electronic music producer born and based in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is best known for his work in the house and tech house genres and his residencies at Ibiza n ...

Michel von Tell Michel von Tell (born October 8, 1980) is a Swiss journalist, consultant, artist and racing driver. Life Von Tell was a professional baseball player in the Swiss NLB league. Von Tell studied economics and was active in the financial investmen ...

, DJ Energy, Felix Kröcher,

DJ Hell Helmut Josef Geier (born 6 September 1962), known professionally as DJ Hell, is a German DJ. Biography 1970s and 1980s DJ Hell described his musical beginnings in an interview with '' The European'', telling them “I was socialized with Ge ...

, Mind Against,

DJ Antoine Antoine Konrad (born 23 June 1975), known professionally as DJ Antoine, is a Switzerland, Swiss house music, house DJ and record producer from Basel. Musical career Beginnings DJ Antoine was born in Sissach, Basel-Landschaft on June 23, 1975. ...

, Dr. Motte, Steve Lawler, and

Tom Novy Tom Novy (born Thomas Reichold; 10 March 1970) is a DJ and producer from Munich, Germany. Biography Tom Novy lived in Munich in his youth and attended the Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich. In the mid-1980s he started to DJ and got his first resi ...

Political aspects

According to the event's official website, ''"The Street Parade is still a demonstration that calls on everyone to live together in peace and tolerance."''

Alternatives

Since 1996, a counter event called ''Antiparade'' takes place in Zurich on the same day as the Street Parade to provide an alternative to it. Similar to the

Fuckparade The Fuckparade is an annual summer technoparade in Berlin. The event began in 1997 as a demonstration against the increasing commercialisation of culture and public life and the misuse of the right of assembly by purely commercial ventures, in ...

in Berlin, the goal of this smaller technoparade is to demonstrate against the increasing commercialisation of club culture.

Gallery

File:Zurich Street Parade 2005 005.jpg, 4th Street Parade (13 August 2005), ''Today is tomorrow'' File:Zurich Street Parade 2008 002.jpg, 9th Street Parade (9 August 2008), ''Friendship'' File:Zurich Street Parade 2009 001.jpg, 18th Street Parade (8 August 2009), ''Still have a dream!'' File:Zurich Street Parade 2009 002.jpg, 18th Street Parade (8 August 2009), ''Still have a dream!'' File:Street Parade2022 beim Bellevue.png, 29th Street Parade (13 August 2022), ''«THINK.» '' File:30. Street Parade in Zürich d.jpg, 30th Street Parade (12 August 2023), ''I wish'' File:Street Parade 2024 Love Mobile.jpg, 31st Street Parade (10 August 2024), ''Prefer:Tolerance''

References

External links

Official Website
{{Coord missing, Switzerland Technoparade Tourist attractions in Zurich Electronic music festivals in Switzerland Free parties Music festivals established in 1992 Summer in Switzerland