Events and festivals in Saxony-Anhalt on 22-23 August 2026: Hasselfelde hosts the Harz district festival, Wittenberg opens its 22nd night of experiences, and the Wörlitz Film Days begin on the island of Stein.
Saturday midday, in the Hassel valley. Hasselfelde, a village belonging to the town of Oberharz am Brocken, hosts the Harz district festival over the weekend of 22-23 August 2026. Around 20,000 visitors are expected across the three days, while Wittenberg opens its night of experiences and the film days begin in Wörlitz.
Three days of Harzfest in Hasselfelde
The host changes once a year. In 2026 the Harzfest of the Harz district falls to Hasselfelde, part of the town of Oberharz am Brocken, whose name goes back to the medieval market in the valley of the Hassel.
The district calls it its largest citizens' festival.
From 21 to 23 August, a costumed parade, several stages and themed streets share the village. Clubs and associations from the region between the Brocken, the Bode and the Selke walk in the procession, the stage programme runs across all three days, and the organisers count on some 20,000 visitors. That figure covers the whole weekend rather than a single evening.
A second anniversary falls on the same dates: the Waldseebad open-air pool turns 100 and celebrates inside the festival.
Rotation is what sets this date apart from the town festivals around it. No fixed venue, no fixed organiser: every year another town in the Harz district takes it on, every year another village centre carries the programme, and nothing bigger happens between the Brocken, the Bode and the Selke.
Points of light in Halle, short films in Quedlinburg
On the evening of 22 August, Lutherstadt Wittenberg opens its Erlebnisnacht for the 22nd time, with museums, churches, galleries and public squares of the World Heritage old town staying open until midnight for live music, acrobatics, performances and readings at dozens of venues. In Halle, the churches of Handel's city open for the 26th Night of the Churches under the motto "Lichtpunkte", the largest ecumenical summer festival in central Germany. Magdeburg layers political protest, street party and stage programme around the Alter Markt at CSD Magdeburg, the largest queer demonstration in Saxony-Anhalt, set inside several weeks of readings, workshops and parties.
Two open-air cinemas, the same Saturday.
In the Roman Theatre on the island of Stein in Wörlitz Park, the Wörlitz Film Days open their 11th edition, seven evenings of historical and costume films screened at the blue hour between the artificial volcano, Villa Hamilton and the English landscape garden. Outside the Eisenstein studio cinema in Quedlinburg, the eighth Harzmovienale shows about 25 selected short films in the open air, submitted by film-makers from Germany and abroad.
Loburg closes three days of punk, ska and Oi! on Saturday: more than 37 bands play the Spirit Festival on the meadows by the old swimming pool in this district of Möckern, among them Knorkator, Sondaschule, Discharge and Mad Sin.
Laucha an der Unstrut stacks three traditions on top of each other: a home-town festival with a parade, a wine festival pouring Saale-Unstrut bottles and a marksmen's festival with the crowning of a king make up the Heimat-, Wein- und Schützenfest in Germany's northernmost wine region, run by the local heritage association, with a wheelbarrow race no other town offers.