Events and festivals in Saxony-Anhalt on the weekend of September 19 and 20, 2026: the Eisleben Wiesenmarkt marks its 505th edition with 1,000 people in the parade, while the Bad Dürrenberg Brunnenfest marks its 263rd edition dating back to 1763.
Saturday morning, in the old town of Lutherstadt Eisleben. The town opens its 505th edition of the largest folk festival in central Germany, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, with a Ferris wheel, fairground rides and a parade running through Sunday. On the same weekend, September 19 and 20, 2026, the Bad Dürrenberg Brunnenfest in the Saalekreis district marks its 263rd edition dating back to 1763.
Ferris Wheel and Parade at the 505th Wiesenmarkt
The Eisleben Wiesenmarkt ranks as the largest folk festival in central Germany. From September 18 to 21, 2026, Lutherstadt Eisleben turns for the 505th time into a large festival ground on Wiesenweg 1, in the Mansfeld-Südharz district in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Nearly 50 fairground rides share the sprawling grounds there, packed close together between the stalls and booths.
A 60-metre Ferris wheel towers over the site and can already be seen from the roads leading into town. Anyone who rides it looks out over the whole festival ground toward the rooftops of the old town.
On Saturday, September 19, 2026, the traditional parade brings around 1,000 participants through the town centre. It falls right in the middle of a four-day programme that starts on Friday and only ends on Monday.
That places the high point of the 505th edition squarely at the centre of the weekend of September 19 and 20, 2026, between the start on Friday and the close on Monday.
The Fassbieranstich ritual, the ceremonial tapping of the first keg, traditionally opens the festival, a custom that has long been part of the fixed programme of the "Wiese", as the town calls its folk festival. Vogelschießen and a large festival tent round out the programme on both days, and during the Vogelschießen contest participants traditionally crown their marksmen's king.
The Rest of the Weekend in Saxony-Anhalt
In the Ottonian cathedral city of Magdeburg, choirs from around the world gather through Sunday for the International Choir Festival, with a competition, friendship concerts, a Long Night of Choirs and a film music concert between the cathedral, the Johanniskirche and the Hyparschale, in its third edition. At Merseburg Cathedral, the Merseburg Organ Days come to a close on the same Sunday, one of Germany's most renowned organ festivals since 1969: for nine days, international organists play the 56th edition on the historic Ladegast organ, the very instrument that once inspired Franz Liszt. In Lutherstadt Wittenberg, the Renaissance Music Festival brings ten days of madrigals, lute music and early Baroque dances to the old town, with a special programme marking the 400th anniversary of composer John Dowland's death and a bandoneon focus rooted in the Saxon Vogtland.
In Bad Dürrenberg, the spa town in the Saalekreis district marks the 263rd edition of its Brunnenfest, running since 1763, in the Kurpark on Hauptstraße, with a parade, a farmers' market and a stage programme, and it has counted among Germany's intangible cultural heritage recognised by UNESCO since 2023. In Gardelegen, the Hansefest opens its 27th edition at the same time in the historic old town of the medieval Hanseatic town in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel district, with MDR Sachsen-Anhalt as its stage partner, a Ferris wheel on Tivoli-Platz, Irish folk music on Nicolaistraße, fire shows at the Aschberg and free admission across seven venues.
In Flechtingen, the volunteer fire brigade marks its 140th anniversary from September 18 to 20, with a parade on Saturday, September 19, an open day at the fire station and a traditional Schlachtefrühstück breakfast on Sunday in the health resort in the Börde district. In the Jerichower Land district, the Volkspark in Genthin hosts the long-running Potato Festival, with local farmers presenting their harvest, a potato soup competition for the best recipe, and the election of the Bird of the Year.
At Jerichow Abbey, the Knight Festival turns one of northern Germany's most significant Romanesque sacred buildings into a medieval world for two days, with a market, jesters, mock combat and a mounted jousting tournament that draws families and medieval enthusiasts to the Jerichower Land. In Haldensleben, meanwhile, more than 60 readings continue as part of the biennial literary festival Literatur findet Stadt, regarded since 2009 as one of Saxony-Anhalt's most distinctive book events, turning living rooms, gardens, old distilleries, churches, farms and pizzerias across the Magdeburg Börde into reading stages.
Admission to the Hansefest in Gardelegen stays free on all three days, while the Eisleben Wiesenmarkt remains open until Monday.