Maschsee Festival

Maschseefest, view of the north bank

The Maschseefest (formerly: Maschseetage ) is a nearly three-week festival in Hanover that takes place every summer on the promenades around the Maschsee . It is considered Germany's largest sea festival.

history

Maschseefest west bank

Maschseefest east bank

The celebrations of the Maschsee days were celebrated for the first time in 1950 as part of the German Canoe Championships by Hanover canoeists as a "water sports week". As a result, the events were carried out for around a decade and a half with sporty and entertaining accompanying programs.

In the 1970s there were attempts to revive the Maschseetage. As the actual start of today's Maschsee Festival the year 1986. applies in February this year when it weeks of permafrost was, was organized with around 170,000 subscribers, and the lake is a "Eisfest". That was a new record. At the same time, it was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Maschsee in 1986.

In the first year of 1986, around 70,000 visitors were estimated. Today the Maschseefest is one of the largest events in northern Germany with over two million visitors. According to the organizers, around 40% of the visitors came from outside of Germany in 2009. In 2010 120 music groups and 25 small artists appeared on the five stages. In 2011, the organizers tried to create a stronger maritime flair in the catering stands and events, including beach lounges, a pirate landscape and the setting up of lighthouses for decoration.

Visitor numbers
year	Visitors	source
2013	2.20 million
2014	2.00 million
2015	2.25 million
2016	1.78 million
2017	1.70 million
2018	2.43 million
2019	1.97 million

Maschseefest stage

activities

The Maschsee Festival begins on the first day with an opening party with music, costume and dance performances. As an open-air event, it offers a colorful mix of live music, cabaret and gastronomy . Especially numerous are the appearances of professional revival and tribute bands who play the music of well-known bands, especially Dire Straits , U2 , The Beatles , AC / DC , Queen , Status Quo , ABBA , Depeche Mode and others. Regular guests include The Beatles Connection , Die Toten Ärzte, Mr. Rod, U2-Experience and Mind2Mode, the latter appearing as Simple Minds , U2 and Depeche Mode. In addition, prominent musicians also perform, especially on the weekends. Lotto King Karl and Gunter Gabriel , who died in 2017, were included in the annual regular cast of the festival in the early / mid-2010s .

The focus of the event is the north bank with gastronomic offers and an event stage on a long promenade. Other priorities with larger platforms are located on the lion Bastion , (formerly the Südanleger with an Irish dominated the event area, Temple Bar , called in 2019 under the name Duke Irish Pub) and the Maschsee source . The number of events and organizers has increased steadily. As a result, the focal points of the festival, which were clearly spaced apart, grew increasingly together into one big festival. For children and families, activities such as a bouncy castle, play area, handicrafts or goal wall shooting are offered on a children's meadow. In addition, under the motto Maschsee- Piraten adventure trips take place with a passenger ship of the üstra Reisen GmbH (subsidiary of the Hanover transport company üstra ), which is outfitted as a pirate ship under the name of Üstralala . Other activities include a night torch swim in the lake, a duck race and a fun boat race. There are hardly any activities on the west and south banks.