Canton Bern celebrates August 1st with Nemo, drones and grilled food
Despite the wet start, Bern’s August 1st celebrations started as planned. The Bundesplatz was transformed into a garden party.
Published today at 16:20Updated 3 hours ago
Despite a rainy morning, the celebration on Bundesplatz once again attracted many people.
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Despite temporary storms, numerous well-attended August 1st celebrations took place in Bern on Thursday. Biel celebrated – alongside Switzerland – the local ESC star Nemo and a garden party was held on the Bundesplatz.
The organizers of Idée Bern were expecting up to 12,000 guests in front of the Federal Palace, as they said on Thursday evening in response to a request from the Keystone-SDA news agency. All of the program items could have been carried out up until this point, with some slight delays due to rain.
Grilled food on the long Bundesplatz grill.
When the sun came out, the children enjoyed the water play.
In addition to food and drink with a 24-meter grill, concerts and a children’s program were on offer. The cathedral and the Federal Palace were also open to the public. According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Assembly, almost 2,500 people accepted the invitation to the latter. At times, visitors queued for up to two hours at the entrance control.
There is make-up for the children.
But adults also like to pick up the brush every now and then.
Ubiquitous accessory: the Swiss flag.
Long queue in front of the Federal Palace, which opens its doors to the public on August 1. People waited for up to two hours.
Speaking of federal politics: SP Federal Councillor Beat Jans gave a speech in the Seeland municipality of Schüpfen this morning. “A functioning democratic constitutional state is a great achievement that we must defend,” he said to the brunch guests at the Schüpberg farm.
In his speech on the national holiday, Bern’s mayor Alec von Graffenried also focused on the importance of democracy for the sustainable development of the world: “It is not just about democracy in Switzerland. More democracy in the world is a prerequisite for us to work together better worldwide and thus be able to achieve the important goals for all of us,” said von Graffenried.
Federal Councillor Beat Jans was a guest at the Barryhof in Schüpfen on 1 August.
Photo: Peter Klaunzer (Keystone)
The people of Biel, on the other hand, toasted the national holiday on July 31. A drone show took place as part of the opening day of the Lakelive Festival. Around 15,000 people watched the spectacle, as co-organizer Lukas Hohl told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
He spoke of a “perfect start”, because that same evening the multi-talented Nemo from Biel was playing a home game on the big stage. The organizers took advantage of this opportunity and incorporated the distinguished visitor into the drone formation: A glowing “Congrats Nemo” could be seen in the Biel night sky. “It was important to us to congratulate Nemo on his ESC victory,” said Hohl. The reactions from the audience were approving.
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log inAdrian Moser has been working as a picture editor and chief photographer for the federal government since 2000 and as co-director for the Photo Pool Bern since 2016. More info
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