WERK-QUARTIER FEST

When an Industrial Area Invites the City

WERK-QUARTIER is an industrial area in Stuttgart between the districts of Möhringen and Vaihingen — typically an area you only know if you work there or are going to a specific address. With the WERK-QUARTIER FEST, the initiative of the local companies aims to open this area to Stuttgart's urban society annually. The festival is a neighborhood festival, music festival, and cultural festival all in one — and it is consistently free. A day when Breitwiesenstraße, Handwerkstraße, and Schulze-Delitzsch-Straße become a stage for neighbors, employees, and visitors.

Neighborhood Run and Cultural Program

The program begins at 1 PM with the neighborhood run — not a professional event, but an open run for everyone, consciously setting low barriers. Families, hobby runners, and first-time participants are welcome. At 3 PM, the awards ceremony takes place on the main stage — not a grand spectacle, but a friendly acknowledgment that "the run counts." Starting at 3 PM, the cultural program begins on two stages: hands-on activities for families, children's workshops, small concerts by regional bands, theater and improvisation formats, and walking acts. The cultural stage runs until 6 PM and is explicitly aimed at families.

Fools Garden and DJ Gabriel Wittner

From 6 PM, the main music stage takes over: Fools Garden performs — the German pop band from Stuttgart, internationally known for their 1995 world hit "Lemon Tree" and having built a broad discography since then. Singer Peter Freudenthaler and his band are a Stuttgart institution with national appeal — a very well-chosen main attraction for a neighborhood and industrial area festival. From 7:30 PM, DJ Gabriel Wittner continues — the Stuttgart-based musician and producer is known for creative remixes, covers, and mashups of electronic music with German-language pop and hip-hop.

Inclusion and Participation as a Program

The festival's explicit value proposition is remarkable: "Inclusion and participation" are anchored in the festival mottos. This translates into concrete measures: accessible stages, sign language interpreters for main addresses, quiet retreat areas for autistic visitors, and consistently discounted or free offerings. The WERK-QUARTIER FEST thus clearly positions itself against the logic of classic open-airs aimed at affluent target groups. This is about urban society in plural — and that is a deliberate statement in a Stuttgart industrial area.