53rd Garching Citizens' Week

City festival with tradition — since 1973

The Garching Citizens' Week originated in the early 1970s as a civic festival for the growing research city of Garching, north of Munich. Today, it is a firmly established institution in the Munich district and the town's most important summer civic festival. The organizer is the Garching Town Office for Culture, which coordinates over sixty program items with clubs and initiatives.

Two stages, one festival

The Citizens' Week is classically divided into two stages. Phase one is the Volksfest in the Bürgerpark with a festival tent, the ceremonial march of the clubs, beer tapping, catering by the festival host, and an open-air stage. Phase two is the street festival in the city center with an arts and crafts market, street performers, a farmers' market atmosphere, and several live stages along the central axes around the town hall and Bürgerplatz.

Program in the Community Center

Parallel to the festival tent and open-air programs, an accompanying series of events takes place in the Bürgerhaus Garching: cabaret evenings, concerts, readings, and theater productions run throughout the eleven days. The mix of popular festival tent entertainment and high-caliber culture is the hallmark of the Citizens' Week.

For young and old

From senior afternoons to open-air cinema, from children's programs to the city championship in table tennis, from chess simultaneous tournaments to the city run: the Citizens' Week sees itself as a festival for all generations. The ceremonial parade of the clubs at the opening is one of the most emotional moments — all Garching clubs show their colors and celebrate their town.

Garching — Where science meets tradition

The city of Garching is home to one of Europe's most important research campuses (TU Munich, Max Planck Institutes). The Citizens' Week showcases the other Garching: Bavarian, convivial, tradition-conscious — a counterpoint to the daily grind of research. For many students and researchers, it is an opportunity to discover the city beyond the campus.