Festival founder couple on 40 years of Gurten "Everything used to be different - but not better"

Fredi and Kathrin Hallauer co-founded the Gurten Festival in 1977. 40 editions later, they tell us what has changed, what has stayed the same - and what bothers them today.

They are still recognized by many visitors to the Gurten today: Fredi Hallauer is part of the six-strong founding team that brought the Gurten Festival to life in 1977. His wife Kathrin was also involved from the very beginning and looked after artists backstage.

When the couple walk around the site these days, they often receive compliments - for having contributed to the attitude to life of many music fans. "It wasn't better before, but it was different," they both say looking back. What has remained the same, however, is the recipe for a good festival: "Good people who are open and ready for a good party and want to enjoy the event," says Kathrin.

It doesn't really matter who is on stage. "There's always been the accusation that people don't even know the bands anymore. But a festival isn't for grumbling, it's for discovering," says Fredi Hallauer.

Nuclear power instead of inclusion

However, the beginnings of the festival were not quite so relaxed. It took the approval of the mayor of Bern for the festival to be held on Bern's local mountain for the first time.

He was particularly concerned about preserving the grass. "The Gurten was a sacred lawn, the city gardening department guarded it like the apple of its eye," says Kathrin Hallauer. And of course there were also people who "complained two days after the festival that the lawn was broken", says Fredi Hallauer. "But after two weeks, everything was back to how it was before."

The founding couple are delighted that topics such as inclusion and sustainability are at the forefront today. Such issues were already important to old hippies in the past. Although for the first Gurten visitors, "Nuclear power, no thanks!" was the topic of the hour.

Is there anything that bothers Fredi and Kathrin Hallauer about today's festival? "The constant sound from the dance tent, that doesn't have to be there," says Fredi Hallauer. Otherwise, however, they both hope that the current festival organizers "carry on as they are now".

This list is continuously updated and adapted. Changes at short notice are possible.

All further information about the Gurtenfestival can be found here.

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