Further, they stated that in a mediation attempt between old town residents and District Mayor Helmut Kollig, “our willingness to accept criticism and to work together on possibilities for optimization,” was rejected. Moderate points of view from merchants were ignored.

The organizers said they were sorry for the City of Bonn, the residents and businesses which were interested in participating in the cherry festival this year. Aventan said that a new concept with interested citizens and merchants must be drawn up, “aimed at a broad responsibility for the festival.”

Until last year, the old town cherry fest had been organized on a voluntary basis. In 2016, Aventan took over the organization because it had become too much work. This year, the organizers wanted to work together with Jürgen Harder of the Brückenforum to extend the festival to two days. The district representation rejected the extension but said it would allow Aventan to announce a one-day festival with market stalls and music. Many residents found out about this in the newspaper and they saw it as a commercialization of the event. The organizers themselves said that with the size of the event, they would need to make money from it.

At a meeting with Mayor Kollig, residents of the old town area handed over a list with 892 signatures of people against the commercialization of the festival. But with or without the festival, the cherry blossoms will still come. (Orig. text: Philipp Königs)