Events in Lower Saxony on Saturday and Sunday, October 31 and November 1, 2026, from autumn fairs to a jazz festival. The Dannenberg potato Sunday leads the weekend with more than 150 exhibitors in the town centre.
Potato pancakes with apple sauce or salmon, plus mulled wine and potato schnapps. These are the stalls of the Kartoffelsonntag, which fills the town centre of Dannenberg (Elbe) on Sunday, November 1, 2026. The Dannenberg potato Sunday leads the weekend with more than 150 exhibitors in the town centre.
The potato Sunday in Dannenberg
The Dannenberger Kartoffelsonntag reaches its 39th edition. The Werbegemeinschaft Dannenberg, the local traders' association, celebrates the tuber, central to farming in the Wendland-Elbtalaue region, on the first Sunday of November every year. This year that is November 1, from noon to 5 p.m.
More than 150 exhibitors take over the town centre. Potato pancakes come in countless variations, alongside mulled wine, potato schnapps, potato cake and potato jam. Rare and old varieties often come straight from the grower, and Demeter farms and organic growers from the Wendland have stalls.
Crafts are part of it too: carved potato figures, stamps and prints.
The firm Eggers from Schaafhausen shows harvesting machinery, from combine harvester to sorting belt. Because the potato Sunday is also a shopping Sunday, shops, cafés and restaurants take part. Several thousand visitors come regularly, and entry is free.
Fairs, jazz and street food across the rest of Lower Saxony
Saturday, October 31, is a public holiday in Lower Saxony: Reformation Day.
The Herbstjahrmarkt Osnabrück, known in the city as the Jazzer, runs from October 30 to November 8 at the Halle Gartlage and opens twice a year, in spring and autumn. More than 120 showmen bring high rides, a Ferris wheel, dodgems and a ghost train, and entry is free, while rides and games cost extra. The Auricher Herbstmarkt puts more than 50 rides on the Sparkassen-Arena car park until November 8, among them a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster and dodgems. It is open daily from 2 to 10 p.m., and from 1 p.m. on Sundays and public holidays. In Bakum, the Allerheiligenmarkt starts on Saturday and runs until Monday, November 2, traditionally opened by tapping the barrel. The Musikverein Bakum plays on stage during the market.
In Wittmund, the Letztmarkt doubles as a hurdy-gurdy festival: players from all over Germany, plus a flea market in the pedestrian zone, all until Sunday, November 1. The town of Wittmund and the showmen's association organise it, and a children's carousel is there for the little ones.
The street food festival in Wolfsburg's town centre, organised by Wolfsburg Marketing GmbH, offers cuisines from every continent, DJ sets, seating areas and free entry. The format closes the town-centre events before the Christmas market, and on Sunday, November 1, the shops open as well. The Göttingen Jazz Festival has been on the calendar since 1978, is in its 48th edition and runs at the Deutsches Theater until November 7, with the NDR Bigband under Nikki Iles, Tineke Postma, the trio Shalosh and Marius Neset among the headliners. Twenty regional bands play too, and there are a jam session and a jazz dance party.
On the Elbe dyke south of Hamburg, the Hoopte volunteer fire brigade invites visitors on Sunday to the Hoopter Fischerfest at Hof Sander, with fishing demonstrations and freshly smoked trout. The brigade funds part of its equipment and youth work with the festival. In Zetel, the volunteer fire brigade marks its 100th anniversary on Saturday with an Oktoberfest on the Markthamm, with beer in litre steins, lederhosen and dirndls, and the party band Lechpower plays. Tickets are sold through the Zetel fire brigade.
The crafts market at the Syke district museum takes place on Sunday: handmade pieces in ceramics, wood, textile, glass, jewellery and leather, plus a bakehouse more than 400 years old that turns out fresh bread. It is the last edition of the year, and the exhibitors advise visitors at their stalls.
To reach the potato Sunday, take the train to Dannenberg station or drive via the B 191 and the B 216.