The yearly Danube Festivals have been established as a tradition within the DANUBEPARKS Project, which was implemented betwen 2009 and 2012 with an ever growing number of Protected Areas in the partnership. On Sunday, September 2nd, Bavaria visited Austria: The Bavarian Danube Festival took place in Donau-Auen's visitor centre in Orth/Donau, with guests from Neuburg and Ingolstadt bringing culinary delights, music, dance, traditional costumes and an exhibition giving insights to their natural heritage to their friends further downstream.
More than 900 guests came to celebrate the transnational Danube cultural and natural heritage. Two folk music groups took care of good ambience and entertainment, together with their partners from folk dance groups. Culinary specialities from the Bavarian Danube regions could be tasted as well. Our youngest visitors had the chance to explore the Danube's natural heritage in a playful way, with various handicraft works, exploration of the smallest animals in side-arms, and a Ranger Show. The exhibition about the Danube Floodplain Forest Neuburg-Ingolstadt, which had been shown in the castle tower for several months already, gave insights into fauna and flora of the area as well as the large river restoration project implemented in the region.
Political representatives both from the Bavarian partner Protected Area "Danube Floodplain Forest Neuburg-Ingolstadt" as well as from Donau-Auen National Park's region joined the celebration and expressed their support for the transnational cooperation of Protected Areas, which will find its continuation in the ETC-SEE project DANUBEPARKS STEP2.0.
Project managers along with political representatives also used the opportunity to strengthen this cooperation and experience exchange with a study visit in the National Park the day before the festival, which also gave time to discuss and prepare the start of this future project in person: The Kick-Off Meeting for the DANUBEPARKS STEP2.0 project will take place end of October in Neuburg and Ingolstadt.
