Wolfhagen City Festival

A Young City Festival with Great Ambition

The Wolfhagen City Festival is one of North Hesse's youngest city festivals – the 3rd edition in 2026 follows only two previous editions. Despite this young history, the format has already established itself as a central spring event in the district town of North Hesse. The organiser is the City of Wolfhagen in cooperation with the local city marketing. The concept relies on an ambitious two-day programme of an evening pub tour and a Sunday family programme.

Saturday: Pub Festival in Four Locations

The kick-off on Saturday, May 9th, 2026, starts at 2 p.m. with the official opening by the mayor with brass choirs and a family programme. Children's performance: "Herr Müller und seine Gitarre". At 5 p.m., the band Sambitas takes over with rhythmic sounds. The actual highlight follows from 8 p.m. with the Pub Festival: Bands play live in four locations in the city centre, admission is free. The musical spectrum ranges from rock and pop to country and folk to blues – a deliberately broad repertoire that appeals to the different generations of the Wolfhagen audience.

Sunday: Family and Market Mile

Sunday opens with an open-air service at Hans-Staden-Platz, followed by a classic flea market at the Marktplatz. From 11 a.m., participating shops open for Sunday shopping. The Market Mile along Schützeberger Straße and Mittelstraße stretches through the city centre with over 40 stalls: handicrafts, culinary delights, decorations, garden products. A parallel curated creative market with local artists runs in the "Raum auf Zeit".

Afternoon Programme with Dance and Music

On Sunday afternoon, dance and music performances follow: Street Dancers, Cheerleaders, the group Jump Feet with group dance, the Fire Brigade's Spielmannszug (drum and bugle corps). At 2:30 p.m., the sing-along with the Shanty Choir Drunken Sailor begins – the audience is explicitly invited to sing along, a format that has found a regular spot in the programme in previous editions. In parallel, the band Jay & The Dinos plays with a soul, funk, and blues sound on one of the market square stages.

Accompanying Programme of Art and Literature

A special feature of the Wolfhagen City Festival is its ambitious accompanying programme: Art exhibitions are held in the "Raum auf Zeit", parallel to which a literary dinner takes place in one of the city centre restaurants and a church café. For the youngest visitors, there is a children's rally with prizes, where children can playfully explore the market mile. This depth of programming is remarkable for a small town of around 13,500 inhabitants and clearly distinguishes the Wolfhagen City Festival from comparable formats.

Wolfhagen on the Habichtswald

Wolfhagen is a small town in the Kassel district on the edge of the Habichtswald Nature Park, located about 25 kilometres west of Kassel. The town has a charming historic city centre with half-timbered houses and is known as the birthplace of Hans Staden – the Hessian who was captured by Tupinambá Indians in Brazil in the 16th century and whose travelogue became a 16th-century bestseller. Hans-Staden-Platz, one of the festival venues, is named after him.