Keystone-SDA
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September 29, 2024 – 7:59 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) The somewhat gloomy weather over the weekend had no impact on attendance at the Harvest Festival, which started on Friday evening in Neuchâtel. The record of 350,000 visitors, set in 2023, could be reached with the success of the Sunday flower parade.
“It’s a magnificent 97th edition. We didn’t have too much rain and it fell at the right time. The population played the game enormously,” Eric Leuba, spokesperson for the demonstration, told Keystone-ATS on Sunday.
Between Friday and Saturday, the festival recorded around 230,000 visitors. The children’s procession and fireworks show attracted many people on Saturday.
The 2023 record with 350,000 people could be reached by Sunday evening. “The hundred stands that I visited – out of a total of nearly 280 – achieved extraordinary turnover,” added Eric Leuba.
The flower parade, one of the last in Europe and the largest in the last 20 years, attracted crowds on Sunday afternoon. “We have never sold so many seats,” said the spokesperson for the event.
Nearly 10 tons of flowers
The show, made up of 14 floats, was 2,200 meters long and had more than 1,500 extras, representing numerous associations. Visitors were also able to discover crazy inventions, the presence of fire eaters and even that of artists on stilts.
The corso required nearly 10 tons of flowers. After Elisabeth Baume-Schneider last year, the Federal Council was represented this year by Beat Jans, who received, as tradition dictates, his share of confetti.
