Aue City Festival

Aue City Festival — Downtown in the Erzgebirge Summer

Aue-Bad Schlema is the largest town in the Erzgebirgskreis district, nestled in the Schwarzwassertal valley with views of the slopes of the upper Erzgebirge. The town is primarily known for its football club (FC Erzgebirge Aue) and its mining past. For decades, the city festival has been the most important date in the municipal event calendar — three days on which the city center transforms into a festival mile.

Starting in 2026, the rhythm will change: The festival will no longer be held annually but every two years — and no longer in July, but on the last weekend of June. The city administration cites organizational concentration and increased program quality as reasons. The concept itself remains the same: stages on the Altmarkt and Anton-Günther-Platz, culinary offerings in the city center, and city tours with a historical focus.

Anton-Günther-Platz as a Second Stage

The Anton-Günther-Platz, named after the famous Erzgebirge folk singer Anton Günther (1876–1937), is deliberately used as a second stage. This distributes the program and audience across two central squares, avoiding bottlenecks — and at the same time, the town's Erzgebirge identity is made visible.

Aue and the Erzgebirge

Aue-Bad Schlema was formed in 2019 from the merger of the town of Aue with the municipality of Bad Schlema. The town is located in the Schwarzwassertal valley, at the intersection of the Erzgebirge and the western Erzgebirge foreland. Visitors to the city festival can combine their stay with hikes on the Rabenberg, a visit to the Schmiedeberg educational trail, or a tour of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Montanregion Erzgebirge" (Erzgebirge Mining Region).