The traditional Züri-Fäscht in Zurich will return in a new format along the Limmat and Sihl rivers rather than around the lake starting in 2029, according to city officials and the event’s new concept organizers. Zurich Mayor Raphael Golta and the organizing team announced that the next edition of Switzerland’s largest public festival aims to decentralize crowds by stretching across seven city districts and 15 neighborhoods.
A New Era for Switzerland’s Largest Festival Along Zurich’s Rivers
A 10-Kilometer Ribbon Replacing the Lake Basin Core
The revamped festival concept, drafted by the agency Aroma and led by Lukas Meier, shifts the footprint away from a single concentrated core zone around the lake basin. Instead, the layout forms a continuous 10-kilometer ribbon of activities spanning from the Leimbach city border to the Höngg city border, using the rivers as a connecting element, according to presentation details from Aroma. The city government awarded the organizing mandate to the Verein Zürcher Volksfeste association, chaired by former FDP municipal councillor Albert Leiser, alongside managing director Jeannette Herzog.
Overcoming the Operational Breakdown of 2023
Reviving the festival requires navigating the operational conflicts that led the same organizing association to cancel its cooperation with the city in 2023. At that time, organizers cited stricter waste and recycling regulations, growing political and public resistance, and bans on air shows and traditional fireworks as decisive factors making the old format untenable. Speaking to Swiss broadcaster SRF in 2023, Albert Leiser stated that societal shifts and regulatory burdens meant the historic format could no longer continue in its previous iteration.
Fireworks Ban Divides Local Political Figures
Under the newly approved framework, the traditional large-scale fireworks display over the Zürichsee and high-flying air show demonstrations remain permanently eliminated. While the city’s political leadership welcomed the decentralized river layout, local political figures offered mixed reactions to the structural overhaul. Green Party municipal councillor Urs Riklin expressed support for an event planned without fireworks or air shows, and Felix Stocker, president of the Zürich 1 neighborhood association, welcomed the shift away from concentrated downtown congestion. Conversely, FDP president and municipal councillor Përparim Avdili noted that the localized format feels closer to an expanded neighborhood gathering than a direct successor to the historic Züri-Fäscht.
Next Steps and Unresolved Details Ahead of 2029
City authorities confirmed that the festival will resume its traditional three-year cycle, though the official name of the river-based event remains undecided. The Verein Zürcher Volksfeste must now develop a detailed operational plan, which the Zurich city council will submit to the municipal parliament for formal review.
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