Geneva Festival fireworks (photo, ©2011 Davidpc on flickr)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Geneva Festival was a great success in 2011, pulling in more than 500,000 visitors for the Saturday night fireworks alone, says the city’s tourism office, but the downside was that the number of thefts and amount of vandalism rose. Overall, some 1.8 million visitors took part in the 10 days of festivities 4-14 August, which featured 200 free concerts, 170 food and drink stands and 75 stallholders.
The festivities closed without major incident, says the city, thanks to mediators and “the massive security arrangements deployed involving the cantonal and municipal forces,” says Geneva Tourism in a statement issued Sunday night.
“The Geneva Festival Steering Committee regrets, however, the upsurge in antisocial behaviour leading
to the destruction of infrastructures such as toilets set up for the public convenience, tags and ripping
of tents and the sabotage of generators, not to mention the theft and inconvenience carried out by an
army of pickpockets and bonneteau players. The public, the merchants as well as the guest of honour,
were all victims of these abuses. As a result, GT&C urges the concerned authorities to carefully take
these issues into consideration in order to put an end to this nuisance particularly harmful to the image
of the Geneva Festival and Geneva itself.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The sun is struggling to come out across Switzerland after two weeks of cold and soggy weather, but the forecast promises it will be here for Monday 1 August. The weekend weather forecast is mixed, sun alternating with rain in most regions.
Early weekend traffic is not expected to be a major problem in most areas, with the holiday falling on a Monday.
Fireworks in some areas are held Sunday evening 31 July but in most towns the pyrotechnics and bonfires are scheduled for Monday. Check local municipal web sites for details (note: townname.ch will take you to most of these sites)
Geneva is giving advance warning of traffic changes starting Thursday 4 August for the huge Geneva Festival, with traffic on the Mont Blanc bridge reduced to two lanes, and closed entirely during the two weekends of the festival, which last year attracted 100,000 people.
- Switzerland’s national holiday explained (GenevaLunch 2010)
- Safety precautions for 1 August celebrations from the Swiss Safety Council
- Celebrate by biting into a very Swiss apple!
- up to the minute traffic details on the federal truck traffic site and TSR’s mobile services page (Fr)
Weather forecast for holiday weekend: little rain, relatively cool
Dawn 28 July, Swiss Alps
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - The best place to watch firework 1 August 2010 might be Lake Geneva, about the only place in the region not suffering from dryness and fireworks bans.
Canton Vaud announced Wednesday 28 July that fireworks are banned, effective immediately, although communes will be allowed to go ahead with their national day explosive festivities, under the close supervision of fire departments.
Fireworks on the lake are allowed, the canton notes.
Weekend weather for the holiday: western Switzerland should have temperatures of 12-25C through Sunday, with only small amounts of rain on Thursday and Sunday, otherwise dry and sunny to slightly overcast. For current and local weather, be sure to check GenevaLunch’s weather page, provided by the Swiss national weather bureau, MeteoSwiss.
Click on images to view larger
The only cloud in the sky at dawn Wednesday - not much rain there!
The sun rose and the moon set at nearly the same time in the Alps 28 July
Dry weather: Jura bans fireworks except official ones, other cantons to review
Swiss national day (1 August) official fireworks will still go on
Jura, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – Canton Jura is the latest Swiss state to ban forest fires because of continuing dry weather, but it has banned private fireworks for the national day, 1 August, it announced Monday 26 July.
Fribourg, Geneva, Vaud and Valais also have forest fire bans but will be reviewing this week whether conditions will allow private fireworks.
Recent rains have eased the dryness problem somewhat, but several days of rain are needed to bring conditions back to a more secure level.
A large part of southern and western Switzerland remains on yellow alert, for a high level of danger from forest fires (map, Meteo Swiss).
Title: Lausanne cathedral Christmas concert
Location: Lausanne
Link out: Click here
Description: JC Geiser, the Lausanne cathedral’s noted organist, presenting a surprise programme with “Fireworks” for the annual New Year’s organ concert. Arrive early to ensure a place as this is always packed and no one is admitted after 22:45 for the midnight concert. Free, but a collection will be taken (suggested: CHF10, 15).
Start Time: 22:45
Date: 2009-12-31
Title: Lausanne cathedral Christmas concert
Location: Lausanne
Link out: Click here
Description: JC Geiser, the Lausanne cathedral’s noted organist, presenting Bach, Daquin and Dupré for the annual Christmas organ concert. Arrive early to ensure a seat. Free, but a collection will be taken (suggested: CHF10, 15).
Start Time: 17:00
Date: 2009-12-25
Russia is holding a day of mourning for the 112 people, now all identified, who died when a club caught fire Friday night 4 December in the city of Perm in the Urals. The fire appears to have been started by fireworks inside the club, officials say. Some deaths were caused by inhaling deadly plastic fumes, others by the smoke and flames. Four people are under arrest but a fifth is fighting for his life, one of the 123 injured who are hospitalized. The government has banned club fireworks and is reviewing safety legislation.
Links to other sites: Moscow Times, Ria Novosti
Fetes de Geneve, Geneva's annual musical fireworks show
Geneva, Locarno, Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Storms are building up and showers are promised for all areas on Saturday, not the best news for the Street Parade in Zurich or those who like to stroll around Geneve during the Fêtes de Geneve.
The good news is that skies should clear, particularly in the west, late Saturday afternoon, just in time for the big musical fireworks show in Geneva, a mustn’t miss annual event. They start at 22:00 Saturday 8 August. This year the city has added three new platforms in the lake, to the existing 12, so the show extends slightly further along the lakefront. Expect traffic, expect crowds, and find a good viewing spot early.
Fireworks, Sierre, Switzerland 31 July 2009
Sierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The population of mainly rural Swiss cantons such as Valais, where over the years people have migrated to urban areas to find work, swells during the 1 August holiday period. Two popular ways of celebrating are the local fireworks and bonfires the night of the 31st or 1st (communes choose which one they prefer) and breakfast the next morning with family, good Swiss bread and, in at least one case, freshly picked Valais raspberries.
Happy August 1 holiday!
Breakfast: brioche with Swiss cross and freshly picked Swiss Alps raspberries, 1 August 2009
Val d'anniviers, Valais, Switzerland (look for the cat's shadow)
Saint Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Saturday 1 August is Switzerland’s national holiday, a time when the Swiss like to return to their families’ hometowns, and with fine weather forecast, expect trains, planes and roads to be busy starting Friday, as people take long weekends off work.
Tips for the Swiss holiday, road alerts, last-minute travel plans
Subtle with the Swiss flags
Expect fireworks
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland celebrates its National Day 1 August, a time when families tend to get together and the Swiss return to their “home” towns, which is not necessarily where they grew up, but the town where their family is registered.
Watch those fireworks
Expect bonfires and fireworks: some 1,700 tons of pyrotechnics are sold every year. Keep in mind the federal government’s recommendations to avoid these if you have cardiovascular or respiratory system problems because they sharply increase, for a short period, the fine dust particles in the air. And if you’re setting off fireworks, remember that they provoke serious stress for animals, Bern says, so don’t do it near them.
The annual August holiday provokes on average 250 accidents related to fireworks, and fires cause some CHF4 million in damage. Safety tips, Swiss Bureau for the Prevention of Accidents (Fre)
The bonfires are part of an old Swiss tradition, particularly in the Alps, where one village could warn another of impending attacks by lighting a bonfire, easily visible at a great distance.
Homeward bound, cheaply
The CFF rail company is offering a special “Homecoming days” deal to all Swiss to take the train for CHF15, 1 and 2 August, when they return to their place of origin, as it’s known. The deal is good between your home town and your place of residence, as they appear on a Swiss identity card or passport.
The meaning of 1 August, Switzerland’s National Day
Go back to 1291 for the source of this holiday that recalls a day in early August, over 700 years ago, when three independent republics signed a pact to protect each other. (Ed. note: if you’re feeling weak on knowledge of Swiss politics, geography, culture and history, a new board game in English will be launched 1 August, Helvetiq, offering 312 question/answer cards to make you an expert. See our GenevaLunch review of the game)
Fêtes de Genève, fun on the ground and in the sky
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Switzerland’s biggest outdoor party kicks off tomorrow, 30 July, as the Fêtes de Genève get underway, after a two-week warmup called the pre-Fêtes. Music, art and food stalls in the streets, lakeside fair rides, a slow-up Sunday 2 August, spectacular fireworks Saturday 8 August: they’re all part of the fun.
And to put you in the mood the city is calling on amateur photographers to get out their cameras and start shooting their entries for the four seasons of Geneva photography contest, with tempting prizes.
Check it out on the GenevaLunch events page. Here’s where it is happening:
Title: The summer colors of jazz
Location: Morges, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: Three days of fireworks, jazz and a garden party. A bit for everyone.
Start Date: 07 Aug 2009
End Date: 09 Aug 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva will host a 2009 edition of the fabled 1001 nights when the Sultanat of Oman comes to town as the guest of honour for the Fêtes de Genève.
The fete, which is Switzerland’s largest tourist attraction, consists of two weeks of partying and music in the streets followed by nine days of fun fair and a giant fireworks show. The pre-fete is 16-29 July, followed by the Fêtes themselves until 9 August.
The giant party is home to 150 food stalls and restaurants, 65 rides and 120 musical offers every evening.
The 2008 Fêtes brought the city thousands of visitors, with Geneva earning an estimated CHF120 million. The fireworks over the lake are widely considered some of the best in Switzerland.
Details: city’s Fêtes de Genève web site, Tribune de Genève article
Ten-metre high flames were part of a fire reportedly started by fireworks that were part of China’s Lantern Festival in Beijing 9 February, which destroyed a building in the CCTV complex. A new high-rise Mandarin Oriental Hotel, scheduled to open in 2009, appears to have been destroyed, but no deaths or injuries were reported in the unoccupied building. International Herald Tribune
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – The sun is working its way out from behind the heavy rainclouds of the past few days, but Geneva’s large annual fireworks display, scheduled for Saturday, is not yet assured. The floodgates of the Rhone must be closed to make it safe enough for the fireworks to be set off from pontoons near the Mont Blanc bridge and the authorization comes from federal authorities in Bern. The level of Lake Geneva is so high from rainfall and feeder rivers that they must consider if the floodgates can be closed without risk. This is the 40th year of the fireworks display. Some 100 technicians are working on the show, reports the Tribune, which will be set to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons music.
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – The fireworks for the Fetes de Geneve which kicks off Thursday were put on hold in the afternoon because of lake pollution. Heavy rains Thursday morning caused sewers in the Eaux Vives district in Geneva to overflow into Lake Geneva, causing a large patch of pollution. Boats and barges were ordered not to move in order to avoid the polluted area being displaced, while the city began to cleanup operations.
Basel, Switzerland (Le Matin, Fre) – Basel’s 1 August fireworks, some of the largest in the country, drew 100,000 people who watched the pyrotechnic show run from a boat in the Rhine River.
