Schützenfest SV Kattenstroth

Schützenfest SV Kattenstroth — Gütersloh District Tradition

The Schützenfest of SV Kattenstroth is one of the oldest Schützenfest dates in the Gütersloh city area. Organized by the Kattenstroth Rifle Association, it traditionally falls on the second weekend in June. 2026: Friday, June 12th to Sunday, June 14th. Festival home and meeting place: the association clubhouse at Alter Hellweg 60, 33334 Gütersloh, in the district of Kattenstroth. The association has been cultivating German riflemen's traditions for generations — bird shooting, king proclamation, parade — thereby uniting the district across generations.

Kattenstroth — Gütersloh District Between Tradition and Growth

Kattenstroth is one of the ten statistical districts of Gütersloh (around 100,000 inhabitants). It is located in the south of the city, south of the city center along the historic Alter Hellweg — one of Westphalia's oldest traffic routes. With medium-sized companies (keywords Bertelsmann, Miele, Claas), Gütersloh is one of the economically strongest medium-sized centers in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Schützenfest here is not a tourist magnet, but rather district association life — business people and employees of local companies support it through donations and membership.

Friday, June 12th, 2026 — Festival Opening

• 8:00 PM — Festival opening at the association clubhouse
• Speeches by the board
• Honors for long-standing members
• Bird on the pole — symbolic erection of the bird for Saturday's shooting
• Festival evening with dance music

Saturday, June 13th, 2026 — King's Day

Saturday is the heart of the festival. The day opens with a parade, led by the flag company, which collects the reigning king and queen and their court and leads them through the streets of Kattenstroth.

• ~4:30 PM — Start of the bird shooting. Aspirants line up to shoot the symbolic object from the high pole
• Competition lasts several hours
• ~9:30 PM — Proclamation of the new king (or queen) by the board
• Coronation and festival ball with dance band

Sunday, June 14th, 2026 — Queen's Day and Family Program

• Parade with decorated carriages in which the new queen is picked up
• People's shooting for all visitors
• Children's program with games and carousel
• Raffle for the benefit of the association
• Wind-down with morning pint and last rounds of dancing

Riflemen's Tradition — Westphalian Custom with Identity Building

On the association's website, SV Kattenstroth writes: "Many Kattenstroth citizens and business people show through their presence and donations that the Schützenfest tradition is still popular here." This statement gets to the heart of the matter: The Schützenfest is not purely a sporting event (even though the bird shooting is its formal axis), but an annual identity event. Those who have moved away from Kattenstroth often return on the second weekend in June — like for a class reunion.