Festivals in Focus

By Bardia Khajenoori USAG Stuttgart Public Affairs

The Stuttgart region loves its festivals, but when it comes to frequency and diversity, there’s no time quite like the summer. From music festivals to showcases of food and world culture, the options are endless. Our rundown divides a wide selection of events into three general categories with some degree of overlap.

Consider using public transit to get to these events due to busy or closed roads and limited nearby parking. Apps such as VVS Mobil, SSB Move, and DB Navigator offer customized door-to-door public transit routing and the ability to buy tickets on your mobile device.

Credit cards are increasingly accepted at vendor booths, but it’s still a good idea to have enough cash to cover intended purchases.

Aside from the largest events, most informational websites are only in German, so using a free translation app or browser extension will help to make most things roughly understandable. While many activities will, of course, also be in German, don’t feel intimidated — dancing, music, fireworks, and food transcend languages.

This list is provided solely for informational/ cultural awareness purposes; inclusion of an event does not imply endorsement.

City/Neighborhood Festivals

Most local towns and villages host at least one marquee street festival in the summertime, as do most districts of Stuttgart. These events typically feature live music or DJs and stages for artistic performances along with activities for children. They are open access and have no admission fee, with a wide selection of food, drinks, and other products available for sale from vendors. When they take place in a town center over a Sunday, the day is often (but not always) designated as a special “Shopping Sunday,” with nearby stores open for business.

• Stuttgart-Vaihingen, home to Patch Barracks, kicks off the spring/summer season with its Vaihinger Frühling (May 6-7) at the Vaihingen Marktplatz.

• The half-century old Backnang Street Festival (June 23-26) brings six musical stages to the streets and alleyways of this historic town northeast of Stuttgart.

• The Heusteigviertel in Stuttgart-Süd, full of neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau architecture, holds its bustling fest from June 23-25.

• Böblingen’s City Festival (June 30-July 2) centers around Schlossberg, with a flea market along Bahnhofstraße.

• July marks the busiest month for neighborhood festivals in Stuttgart. Highlights include the Marienplatzfest (June 29-July 2), featuring a robust live music program which later turns to a silent disco; Westallee (July 7-9), StuttgartWest’s “alternative” festival; and Bohnenviertelfest (July 20-22), whose neighborhood takes its name from the practice of its poorer residents growing beans in their gardens hundreds of years ago. The Henkersfest (or ‘Hangman’s Fest’), which takes place at the city’s Middle Ages execution site of Wilhelmsplatz in Stuttgart-Mitte has not confirmed dates as of press time but typically takes place in mid-to-late July.

• Also close by, the Nürtingen Neckarfest transforms the city’s riverfront into a cultural hub from July 7-8 while SchoWo, or Schorndorf Week (July 14-18), offers more than 100 activities over five days across the birth city of pioneering engineer and industrialist Gottlieb Daimler.

Arts, Culture, and Dining

• The Sindelfinger Schlemmermarkt (gourmet market) takes place at the city’s Marktplatz from May 18-21.

• The Afrika Festival (July 7-9) returns to Erwin-SchöttlePlatz for the first time in three years with food, fashion shows, concerts, an African market, and more.

• The 34th Hamburg Fish Market at Karlsplatz (July 6-16) helps fill the fish-sized void in landlocked Stuttgart’s culinary scene for ten days each year – but vendors also have plenty of other options available (including sweets and desserts), and its party atmosphere attracts visitors from far and wide.

• The Summer Festival of Cultures (July 11-16), with its stage set up prominently on Marktplatz, is southern Germany’s largest world music festival and celebrates Stuttgart’s diversity with an eclectic array of musical and other performances. Food stalls run by local clubs dish out numerous types of homemade food, ranging from Kurdish and Eritrean to Peruvian and Hungarian.

• The Wine and Pretzel Fest in Bad Cannstatt’s old town, which prides itself on being the area’s first street/city festival, is usually held in late July.

• Esslingen’s Estival, on the market square from August 4 to 16, has a full entertainment program but highlights its culinary offerings as ‘regional and international, traditional and reinvented.”

• The Stuttgarter Weindorf (Wine Village), from August 30 to Sept. 10, converts Schillerplatz, Marktplatz, and the street between them into a sea of quaint pop-up stalls and restaurants showcasing wine from local vineyards and the best of regional cuisine.

Music and Special Events

• The Ludwigsburg Festival runs from May 11 through July 22, presenting numerous artistic and musical performances in venues scattered throughout the city and its sprawling palace complex.

• The courtyard of the Neues Schloss hosts the main stage of the Jazz Open Stuttgart (July 13-23), which has gradually become as “open” as it is “jazz.” Tickets range from €25 - 275; this year’s headliners include Branford Marsalis, Deep Purple, Parov Stelar, and Joss Stone.

• Killesberg Park holds its annual ‘Lichterfest’ (Festival of Lights), with light shows and fireworks, July 15.

• From June 16 - July 7, the Musikfest Stuttgart is mostly, but not exclusively, classical-focused, with concerts ranging from orchestral and choral to jazz with Arabic verse.

• On the Saturday of Ballet in the Park (July 22-23), the world-renowned Stuttgart Ballet simulcasts a live performance from the Opera House to a giant screen set up in the lawn opposite for a crowd seated on their own blankets or soft chairs; Sunday features pieces by talented members of its training school.

• Christopher Street Day is Stuttgart’s LGBTQ+ Pride celebration, with a parade through the city center on July 29 and a street festival July 29-30 between Marktplatz and Schillerplatz.

• Flammende Sterne, held in Ostfildern’s Scharnhauser Park August 25-27, is an international fireworks competition where invited teams wow audiences with impressive displays synchronized to music. The event also includes laser light shows, street art, and a festival market with abundant food and drinks.