Ingelheim harbour festival takes place as usual

Dealing with African swine fever (ASF) is a particular challenge this year. This is because the harbour festival area is located in the official protection zone, which stretches along the banks of the Rhine from Bingen to Mainz and south to Bubenheim. Special rules apply in this protection zone to prevent the spread of ASF. To this end, the harbour festival site has already been extensively fenced off so that no diseased animals can enter the site weeks before the harbour festival.

Matthias Becker, Managing Director of Ingelheimer Kultur und Marketing GmbH (IkUM), which organises the festival, is asking all people who will be on the banks of the Rhine in Ingelheim in the near future to leave the barriers untouched and not to enter the festival grounds before the harbour festival opens. ‘If we all help and work together to comply with the strict regulations surrounding African swine fever, nothing will stand in the way of a great harbour festival again this year,’ emphasises the IkUM Managing Director. There will be no changes to the stand areas for the artists' market, catering and fairground rides.

The official opening of the Ingelheim Harbour Festival will take place on Friday evening at 6 pm on the main stage. Philipp Weitzel, the reigning ‘Father Rhine’, will give the starting signal for the three-day party. Further information on opening times, the programme and how to get there is available online at www.ikum-ingelheim.de/hafenfest/