Daffodil Festival
The Daffodil Festival is a flower festival in Ausseerland , Austria , which has been held annually in spring since 1959. The daffodil has a white bloom in the Styrian Salzkammergut and grows in the region on the meadows that are managed by less intensive agriculture .
This major event with an average of 17,000 visitors and approx. 3,000 participants is recorded by ORF Styria and is therefore attracting more and more visitors to the region. Reinhart Grundner has moderated the festival for over 25 years .
The festival lasts four days, during which the guests are offered a variety of events. Therefore only the most important are mentioned:
The prelude is the election of the narcissus queen and two princesses always one week before the festival weekend. A committee makes a pre-selection of the applicants who have to present themselves to the audience for the final election. The Highnesses represent the Ausseerland, Styria and Austria at various events for the coming year.
On Friday, the traders organize a long daffodil night with music and shopping.
On the Saturday of the Daffodil Festival, the center of Bad Aussee is reserved for pedestrians. A classic car ride leads through the center. There is also a demonstration by the Red Cross and a band star march.
The main part of the festival takes place on Sunday: meter-high figures made of daffodils are displayed in the city center until around noon. In the afternoon, held annually alternating the Grundlsee or at Altausseersee a boat parade instead.
Many months before the festival, families, clubs and friends develop designs for it and later build them from wire. On the day before the Daffodil Festival Sunday, the figures are carefully handcrafted with daffodils and other natural products. The parade is accompanied by local bands, various traditional costume clubs and the daffodil sovereigns.
On June 2, 2013, the boat parade had to be canceled for safety reasons for the first time in the history of the Daffodil Festival due to the flooding of the Grundlsee and outgoing mudslides on the access roads. In 2020, the Daffodil Festival had to be completely canceled for the first time due to the uncertain situation of the COVID-19 pandemic .
Emergence
The idea of organizing a daffodil festival actually came from Mariazell at the end of the 1950s. After an initial implementation, it failed there because of the costs that were no longer acceptable. It is different in Ausseerland: There were and are large numbers of daffodil meadows here, and the Ausseer overcame the difficult economic situation with an enormous amount of personal work.
From May 28 to 29, 1960, the Bad Aussee Tourist Association held the Daffodil Festival for the first time in Bad Aussee. Originally there was only one car parade in Bad Aussee on Sunday. In addition to traditional costume and school groups, several music bands and 72 vehicles took part in this in the first year. At that time the vehicles were only decorated with a bouquet of daffodils - attached to the car antennas. Right from the start, in the first few years, the audience chose the narcissus queen and her two princesses on the night from Saturday to Sunday as part of the narcissus ball, using “hearts” that could be bought.
As early as 1963, the main innovation was a boat parade, on two lakes. The boat parade on the Grundlsee took place on Saturday afternoons in these years, the one on Altaussee after the Sunday car parade. For many years there was a big fireworks display on the Daffodil Festival Saturday in Bad Aussee. The Daffodil Festival was accompanied by the media at that time by the radio show “Motorists on the move”, which was popular at the time. In the early years the number of visitors remained modest, between 2,000 and 4,000 guests.
Trivia
On July 1, 2020, Österreichische Post AG published the 9th dispenser stamp edition. The Daffodil Festival is shown on the stamp with a face value of EUR 0.85.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Flood situation slightly relaxed ORF Steiermark from June 3, 2013, accessed on June 5, 2013
- ↑ Narzissenfest in Bad Aussee canceled ORF Steiermark from March 13, 2020, accessed on March 13, 2020
- ↑ Origin of the festival - Narcissus festival. Accessed December 31, 2019 .
- ↑ philaforum.com
