Events and festivals in Lower Saxony on September 5 and 6, 2026: Braunschweig's Magnifest draws more than 100,000 visitors to the Magniviertel district, while Ovelgönne holds its 393rd horse market and Seesen celebrates the 50th Sehusafest.
Five stages, one district, three days of programme. Over the weekend of September 5 and 6, the historic Magniviertel in Braunschweig fills with more people than any other district festival in the region. More than 100,000 visitors are expected there, while Ovelgönne marks its 393rd horse market and Seesen its 50th Sehusafest at the same time.
A hundred thousand people in Braunschweig's Magniviertel
More than 100 acts, five stages, a single historic district. The Magnifest ranks among the most traditional and popular district festivals in Braunschweig, drawing more than 100,000 visitors every year for over five decades.
From September 4 to 6, 2026, the square around the Magnikirche turns into a dense stage landscape. Rock, pop, folk, jazz, singer-songwriter and hip-hop acts alternate over three days, with a separate programme for families during the day.
On 05.09.2026, all five stages run in parallel from early evening, letting the crowd move freely between venues. That density of programme in a small area sets the festival apart from most other town festivals in the region.
For many residents of Braunschweig, the weekend marks a fixed point on the late-summer calendar: one of the last chances before autumn to see so many people gathered at once in the Magniviertel.
From a horse market to street culture
Sport takes over several other towns. In Wolfsburg, regional teams race for the seventh time at the Wolfsburg Dragon Boat Cup on the Allersee lake. In Hannover, athletes swim, cycle and run at the Hannover Triathlon at the Maschsee, a First Triathlon Bundesliga round held right in the city centre. In the Hasepark at Quakenbrück, more than 10,000 spectators gather for the Artland Horse Race Day, with flat races, trotting and steeplechase.
Older traditions run alongside. The Ovelgönne horse market reaches its 393rd edition and close to 390 years of history, making it the oldest and largest folk festival in the Wesermarsch district. In Seesen, more than a thousand participants in period costume turn the castle park into a journey through time from the Middle Ages to the Rococo for the 50th Sehusafest. In Lüneburg, the Old Craftsmen's Street opens only once every two years: around 300 participants fill 60 stalls in the spirit of the Renaissance around 1550. In Damme, roughly fifty exhibitors show their ceramics at the 42nd edition of the Pottery and Craft Market.
Street arts define two further towns. At the Pflasterzauber in Hildesheim, international performers, jugglers and dance companies turn the town centre into a stage for circus, theatre and dance for its 19th edition. In Nordhorn, the International Street Culture Festival brings clowns, acrobats and variety evenings to the pedestrian zone for its 35th edition.