The first anniversary celebration will take place in the Bavaria tent on Thursday, 7 September. Bonn’s new general director of music, Dirk Kaftan, will hold his inaugural concert in the city with the Beethoven Orchestra and the group the Bläck Fööss. The concert has been sold out for months.

But the opening day on 8 September will also offer a host of special events. The seventh “Historic Festival Parade” will start at 1.30pm. This almost one kilometre long parade, with 900 participants and 45 vintage tractors, will travel from Holtorfer Straße over the funfair grounds to the Bavaria tent, where the group Querbeat will appear at 3pm. After Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan has performed the beer barrel tapping ceremony, the Cologne rock band Brings will perform at 4.30pm.

Security advice

The fair organiser, Harald Borchert, and police officer in charge, Gerd Mainzer, handed out some tips and appeals to visitors on Tuesday:

Large bags and rucksacks should be left at home for security reasons. Those who do not comply will have to undergo security checks.

Cars should also be left in the garage where possible. Visitors are asked to travel by bus or train.

Any unusual persons or suspicious situations should be reported to police or the Ordnungsamt (public order office). Anyone caught fighting will be refused entry.

The police chief had the following to say about security: “We are not aware of any imminent risks, but the security situation is, of course, tense.” More than 100 policemen will be on duty daily along with employees of the Ordnungsamt and several security companies. Heavy concrete blocks will be placed in strategic positions outside the fairground on Thursday. “These obstacles should prevent cars driving at high speed onto the fairground,” explained Mainzer. Police armed with automatic weapons and wearing bulletproof vests will also secure the entrances to the fairground.

The city of Bonn sees the visit on Sunday 10 September by the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, as a particular honour. He will celebrate mass in the Bavaria tent at 10am. Then there is another first from 6pm: a Rhineland Evening in the Bavaria tent. Entrance is free and Cat Ballou, Klüngelköpp, Schäng and the Bönnscher Pänz will play.

Arrival by bus and tram

The Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB), the Rhine-Sieg transport association (RSVG) and the Rhine-Sieg trains (RSE) will offer special prices for journeys to the Pützchen Markt on all days of the fair. SWB will offer a combi-ticket for five people for a return journey for Euro 13.10. A day card for adults costs Euro 5.20 and for children Euro 2.60. The prices are Euro 5.60 and Euro 3.10 for RSVG customers.

RSE will once again use its 60-year-old red railcars between Beuel-Güter station and Hangelar. A return journey will cost five Euros or two Euros for youths from aged 14. Children will travel free.

All buses and trams will operate, depending on demand, until at least 2am on all fair days. Bus lines N4, 603, 608, 609 and 635 will be diverted because of the fair. There will also be changes to tram timetables.

A special bus, marked PM1, and the 537 bus will operate from Bonn main station, Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz and Konrad-Adenauer-Platz to Adelheidisplatz. A special bus marked PM2 and the bus lines 529, 603, 608, 609 and N4 will stop at the same places but end at Friedenstraße. From Bad Godesberg, a special bus marked PM3 will start at the city hall and head to Bad Godesberg station and then via Plittersdorf, Ramersdorf and Küdinghoven to the fair at Adeheidisplatz. Those coming from the other side of the Rhine can use the 635 bus to the fairground.

(Original text: ga.de; Holger Willcke / Translated by Kate Carey)