Pumpkin festival in the Retz region
The pumpkin festival in the Retzer Land is an event that has been taking place every year since 1993 at the end of October in the municipalities of the Retzer Land tourism region in the Weinviertel and Waldviertel and is attended by up to 60,000 guests. It is most likely the biggest festival in the Weinviertel.
history
On the occasion of the Lower Austrian State Exhibition in 1993 in Riegersburg Castle in the Waldviertel, the Retzer Land tourist region organized a supporting program with numerous events in the region. The pumpkin festival in the spacious courtyard of the Hotel Althof in Retz concluded this series of events.
Since then, the pumpkin festival in the Retz region has been held annually in a different municipality in the Retz region:
- Hardegg (venue Pleissing)
- Pulkau
- Retz
- Zellerndorf
- Retzbach (location Unterretzbach)
- Obermarkersdorf
Only in Zellerndorf has the pumpkin festival in Kellergasse Maulavern been held annually as a parallel event since 1995, but here only on the Saturday of the event weekend. In 2020, however, the pumpkin festival was canceled here due to COVID-19 .
The event is supported by regional associations, handicraft businesses and farmers who offer drinks, food (especially in connection with the pumpkin , also called bluza) and handicrafts either in stalls, the driveways or the courtyards of the farmhouses.
To open the pumpkin festival came
- Deputy Governor Liese Prokop (2000, Pulkau),
- Deputy Governor Ernest Gabmann (2005 Pulkau) and
- Governor Erwin Pröll (2004, Retz) in the Retz region.
While the first pumpkin festival in 1993 was still attended by around 600 guests, the number of visitors increased with increasing awareness to over 50,000 in 2001 and 60,000 in 2002.
The organizers started a world record attempt twice in Obermarkersdorf . In 2001 they entered the Guinness Book of Records with a nine-meter and five-centimeter high pumpkin pyramid made from 4,500 pumpkins . In 2006 it was about the longest pumpkin millipede in the world. It is not mentioned whether this attempt to record was recognized as a success.
A pumpkin princess has been a figurehead since 1996, and a prince consort is also mentioned at the 12th Pumpkin Festival in Retz in 2004.
During the period around the Pumpkin Festival, numerous original figures made from pumpkins can be seen throughout the region.
Stamp
The pumpkin festival in the Retz region was the reason for the Austrian Post to issue a special postage stamp (published on October 22, 1999) worth 8 schillings (the equivalent of 0.58 euros). The design is by Maria Schulz, the engraving is by Professor Wolfgang Seidel.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Web link: Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Weblink: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2000/2000102414.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Weblink: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2005/2005-10-03_12-09-37.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Weblink: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2004/2004-09-23_10-50-38.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically defective marked. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Weblink: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2002/2002032114.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Web link: Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated September 7, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Web link: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2001/2001103018.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Weblink: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2006/2006-10-25_11-48-03.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Weblink: http://www.noe.gv.at/presse/msg2002/2002102315.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
