Rheinkultur defends itself against accusations

After this year's Rheinkultur Festival, which attracted around 145,000 visitors on July 2, a heated discussion erupted in the media regarding the damage caused in the Rheinaue. The organizers were accused of a reckless approach to the surrounding nature. Deep tire tracks were mainly visible in the flower meadow, but also to the right and left of the paths. Furthermore, large areas of the grass sod are said to be destroyed. Dieter Fuchs, head of the city green service, even stated, "In my opinion, there has never been devastation of this magnitude before." The organizer, Rheinkultur GmbH, does not want to leave this unchallenged and has now published a statement on their homepage http://www.rheinkultur.com. In this statement, they mention that while it is not possible to avoid all damage at such a large event, they did everything to keep it as minimal as possible. The accusations are described as grossly exaggerated to completely unfounded. They are committed to resolving all contentious points with the responsible authorities and are already looking forward to the 24th Rheinkultur Festival next year.

CDU environmental spokesperson Karl Wengenroth explicitly defends the Rheinkultur organizers:

The damage was predictable. If it rains during the festival, one must expect such things. The Rheinaue was not built for such purposes." One should not only discuss the marketing of festivals but also about investments that allow large events in the park without causing damage.

Statement from Rheinkultur GmbH:

Dear media partners, dear friends of RhEINKULTUR,

It was not our intention to intervene in the public discussion about the damage in the Rheinaue. Rather, we intended to calmly discuss the situation with the relevant offices and authorities to find an amicable solution.

First, we would like to reiterate what we communicated on the day of the event. We deeply regret the condition of the Rheinaue, as we have been organizing RhEINKULTUR there for 24 years now, and the well-being of the park is of immediate concern to us. Unfortunately, it is not possible to hold a large event like ours after the torrential rains that plagued us at the end of the setup week without visible consequences for the park. Despite these extremely adverse circumstances, we did everything we could to treat the park as gently as possible within our means. For example, plywood (wood panels developed specifically for this purpose) was laid in the backstage areas where buses and trucks of bands and equipment moved and parked. These panels were also laid in affected areas of the flower meadow, such as in front of the blue stage. On the day before RhEINKULTUR, puddles were vacuumed from the flower meadow in collaboration with TK-Umweltdienste to support and accelerate the drying process. Additionally, we repaired numerous spots with sand before the event. Bands and suppliers were strongly urged to enter the Rheinaue cautiously and considerately. The measures, such as fencing off flower beds, which we have been implementing for well over a decade, are only briefly mentioned here. We are aware that all of this did not prevent damage to the park, but we believe it clearly shows how committed we are to protecting the area where we have felt at home for almost a quarter of a century.

The RhEINKULTUR organization and the production team explicitly reject the accusations circulating in the media. Whether these are "devastation" or "vandalism," suggesting "arbitrariness" or "malice." A baseless assumption like "forklift racing" is not only without any foundation but can only be seen by us as a provocation and an attempt to deliberately cast the event in a bad light.

What surprises us is the completely one-sided reporting on the current issue. We have not seen any corresponding discussion following the other completely rainy events in the Rheinaue that took place before RhEINKULTUR. That large parts of the flower meadow had already taken on the condition now criticized during the production of, for example, "Rhein in Flammen" in the spring seems to be completely forgotten. Anyone who has seen the condition of the meadow after the dismantling of the Ferris wheel, etc., must be surprised by the vehemence of the current discussion. We find this disproportion to be quite questionable. Of course, a meadow that has already been affected is very susceptible to further damage, and an event with over 140,000 spectators, which also has to contend with the weather, will inevitably result in damage. We regret that. But to hold RhEINKULTUR solely responsible for this is completely wrong.

RhEINKULTUR GmbH will engage with the relevant authorities as intended to assess the situation based on the existing resolutions on this topic. There are foundations and concepts that the organizers and the city have developed and which have been approved in the cultural and main committee as well as by the city council, especially "to emphasize the importance of the RhEINKULTUR Festival for the city." This also includes "additional measures by the city, which are primarily justified by the fact that this open-air festival attracts up to 200,000 young people from North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, but also from all over Germany and abroad to the Rheinaue, represents a youthful, dynamic, future-oriented Bonn, and furthermore brings an immeasurable additional purchasing power for Bonn's retail sector."

We are convinced that we will bring the discussion with the responsible parties to a positive conclusion and look forward to the 24th RhEINKULTUR, which we hope will await us in sunshine on July 1, 2006.

Best regards from Bonn's old town,
for RhEINKULTUR GmbH

Holger Jan Schmidt