Aufsteirern festival expands Saturday programme for 25th anniversary

Graz will again become Austria’s largest village square this weekend as the Aufsteirern festival celebrates its 25th anniversary with an expanded Saturday programme and new app features, ORF reports.

About 2.14 million people have attended the folk culture festival in central Graz since 2002, according to organiser Markus Lientscher of the Ivents agency. Last year, attendance exceeded 200,000 for the first time.

The festival’s four main elements have remained unchanged for 25 years: folk culture, food, crafts and children’s activities. Lientscher said the stalls would continue to avoid kitsch and plastic.

This year, tram services can use the Neutorlinie, which opened last year, allowing the central tram-track areas of Herrengasse street to host festival activities on both Saturday and Sunday. In previous years, visitors increasingly began treating Saturday as a festival day, organisers said.

About 250 hours of programming will be offered across 15 stages and dance floors. Saturday will focus more on crossover events, while Sunday will retain its traditional mix of music, dance and singing.

The programme starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Landhaushof courtyard and from noon in Herrengasse and other streets in the city centre. Opera Graz will also present an opening concert on the main square at noon.

A new Volksliederwerk stage in the Lesliehof courtyard will offer crash courses in yodelling, tavern songs, Poschn and Gstanzl singing. Youth groups and emerging ensembles will also receive more space for the first time this year.

A new mobile app will include a search function for professional taxi dancers, allowing visitors seeking a dance partner to find one. It will also show the programme in real time, allow users to search by group or interest and create a personalised schedule.