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Badenfahrt festival set to attract a million people

Badenfahrt 2023
Inspecting an installation at the Badenfahrt on Friday © Keystone / Ennio Leanza

The Badenfahrt festival, which takes place roughly once a decade, has begun in the town of Baden, northern Switzerland. This year around a million visitors are expected to take part in one of the country’s largest city festivals.

The BadenfahrtExternal link has been held 13 times at irregular intervals since 1923, most recently in 2017. This year, its centenary, the motto is “Neo”, which the organisers say refers to the fact that they are “on the threshold of the next century of the Badenfahrt”.

The ten-day event in canton Aargau has been defined by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, as an example of intangible cultural heritage. Since 2017, the Badenfahrt has been on the UNESCO list of “living traditions of Switzerland”.

Women with jugs on their head at the Badenfahrt festival in 1977
Getting the party started in 1977 Keystone / Str

A 40-member organising committee has been busy for two years preparing for the festival, which features 100 clubs and associations from Baden and the region that will run their own bars and restaurants. At the end of the event they will compete for the award of “most beautiful festival tavern”.

Bars at the Badenfahrt festival in 2017
Some of the creatively designed bars at the previous Badenfahrt in 2017 © Keystone / Christian Merz

On Sunday afternoon, 30 groups with more than 1,500 people will take part in the big parade through the city centre.

In the 19th century, the “Badenfahrt” referred to the trip to Baden’s spa for a cure. In addition to the benefits of warm baths, this trip also promised “all kinds of pleasures for the heart and mind”, the festival’s organising committee pointed out.

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