Schützenfest Olpe (Kürten-Olpe)

Schützenfest Olpe 2026 — Bergisches Village Festival in Kürten

On Saturday, July 11, 2026, the St. Hubertus Schützenbruderschaft Olpe 1921 e.V. will celebrate its Schützenfest on the village square Hauptstraße in the Kürten district of Olpe. The festival runs from 2:30 PM to 2:00 AM and combines religious customs, sporting tradition, and a lively open-air party under the open Bergisches Land sky.

Program 2026

2:30 PM — Children's Festival

The festival kicks off with a children's festival featuring games, sweets, and interactive activities. The youngest attendees are the focus — one of the typical characteristics of Bergisches Schützenfeste, which combine family celebration and club tradition.

Following — Holy Mass

A shooters' mass, often held after the children's festival or in a neighboring parish, provides the spiritual anchor for the event. Marksmen, the royal court, and families participate together.

Bürgerschießen

The Bürgerschießen is the democratic counterpart to the royal bird shooting: every citizen of Olpe can participate, try their hand at the shooting range, and win small prizes. This format lowers the barrier to entry for the shooting tradition and integrates non-members into the festival.

Evening — Open-Air Party with DJ Patrick Rath

From the late evening, the village square transforms into an open-air dance floor. DJ Patrick Rath will play music until 2:00 AM — Bergisches Schlager, Top 40, classics, and danceable tunes. The party is open to everyone, and the village square becomes the region's dance stage.

St. Hubertus Schützenbruderschaft Olpe 1921

The brotherhood was founded in 1921, in the post-war era, as an association for the preservation of local shooting traditions. The patron saint is Saint Hubertus, the classic patron of hunters and forests — fitting for the village and Bergisches character of Olpe. In addition to the Schützenfest, the brotherhood observes other annual events: St. Hubertus Mass in November, visits to neighboring brotherhoods by the king, and joint pilgrimages.

Olpe — the Bergisches District of Kürten

The district of Olpe belongs to the municipality of Kürten in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis and is located about 30 kilometers east of Cologne. With only a few hundred inhabitants, Olpe is one of the smaller districts of Kürten, surrounded by meadows, forests, and the typical hilly landscape of the Bergisches Land. The village square on Hauptstraße is the community center — the location for the Schützenfest, May Day celebrations, and Kirmes. Be careful not to confuse it with the significantly larger Olpe in the Sauerland region (a district capital with its own large city Schützenfest), located about 50 kilometers further east and a distinct festival destination.

Bergisches Land — Shooting Tradition in the Rhineland

The Bergisches Land is one of the most densely populated regions for Schützenfeste in Germany. Almost every village has its own Schützenbruderschaft, its own Schützenfest, its own King and Queen. This hyper-local tradition distinguishes the Bergisches Land from the Münsterland (where festivals are usually larger) and from the Hochsauerland (where the format has evolved differently historically). In Kürten alone, there are several Schützenbruderschaften in the districts, each celebrating their festival in the summer — Olpe is one of them and is among the more recent foundations.