The Cannstatter Volksfest is an annual three-week

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

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is sometimes also referred to by foreign visitors as the Stuttgart Beer Festival, although it is actually more of an autumnal fair. The festival takes place at the

Cannstatter Wasen The Cannstatter Wasen is a 35 hectare festival area on the banks of the Neckar river in the part of Stuttgart known as Bad Cannstatt. The Cannstatter Wasen form part of the Neckar Park Fairground. Each year the Wasen hosts the Cannstatter Vol ...

from late September to early October, spanning a period over three weekends, ending the second Sunday in October. The extensive Wasen area is in the Stuttgart city district of

Bad Cannstatt Bad Cannstatt (), also called Cannstatt (until July 23, 1933) or Kannstadt (until 1900), is one of the outer Stadtbezirke, or city boroughs, of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Bad Cannstatt is the oldest and most populous of Stuttgart' ...

, near the river

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

. A smaller variant of the Stuttgart festival, the

Stuttgart Spring Festival Stuttgart Spring Festival (in German called Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest or sometimes vernacular Cannstatter Wasen or just Wasen) is an annual fair that takes place in the German city of Stuttgart between the middle of April and the beginning of Ma ...

, is also held each year in Wasen. Cannstatter Volksfest2012 Panorama3

Although the Volksfest is not strictly speaking a beer festival, it is considered by many to be the second largest beer celebration in the world after the Munich

Oktoberfest Oktoberfest (; ) is the world's largest , featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October. The annual event attracts more than seven milli ...

. According to estimates about 4.2 million people visited the festival in 2006. The Volksfest begins one week later than the Oktoberfest.

History

The first Cannstatter Volksfest was conceived as a celebration of agriculture after a period of crop failures and famine as a result of the

volcanic winter A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by droplets of sulfuric acid obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, sulfur-rich, particularly explosive volcanic eru ...

following the

1815 eruption of Mount Tambora In April 1815, Mount Tambora, a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia (then part of the Dutch East Indies), erupted in what is now considered the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. This eruption, with ...

in Indonesia. The inaugural event was held in a meadow near the River Neckar on 28 September 1818, and featured displays of agricultural technology and a "Fruchtsäule" (

Fruit Column The fruit column (German: ''Fruchtsäule'') is a wood column decorated with fruits in Stuttgart, Germany. It weighs 3.5 tons and is remains the landmark of the Cannstatter Wasen in Stuttgart although it is towered by numerous roundabouts. Alrea ...

) display covered with fruits, vegetables, and grains donated by

King Wilhelm I Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. ...

. In the following decades, the Volksfest grew and evolved beyond its agricultural focus. In 1841, the festival's first parade was held, which featured over 10,000 participants and 100,000 spectators.

Parade

Traditionally a parade also takes place at the Wasen, usually on the first Sunday. In 1954 a record number of spectators attended the parade along the route from Stuttgart's central square to the Wasen site: 300,000. The Mohrenköpfle is a pig in the parade. On the orders of King Wilhelm I, Maskenschweine (

Meishan pig The Meishan () is a Chinese breed of domestic pig. It is named for Meishan County in Jiangsu Province. It is a sub-group of the Taihu and is a small- to medium-sized pig with large drooping ears and wrinkled black skin. Native to Southern Chi ...

s) were imported from Central China in 1820–21, in order to improve pig breeding in the kingdom of Baden-Württemberg. This crossbreeding with the "Chinese pigs" was particularly successful within the stocks of domestic pigs in the Hohenlohe region and the area around the town of

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; 'Swabian Hall'; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the N ...

References

External links

{{authority control 1818 establishments in the German Confederation Beer festivals in Germany Festivals in Stuttgart Annual events in Germany Festivals established in 1818 19th-century establishments in Württemberg Autumn in Germany COVID-19 pandemic in Germany