More than 700 children, committed volunteers and neighbours planted over 200 apple trees, currant bushes and other plants in Chemnitz and the Capital of Culture Region from 3 to 10 November 2024 as part of the "City and Forest" planting festival. The planting festival is part of the Chemnitz 2025 main projectGELEBTE NACHBARSCHAFT, which focuses on a green city and coming together in nature. The next planting festival is already planned for 30 March to 6 April 2025 under the theme "Awakening".
The planting activities of the last few days were accompanied by an extensive cultural programme: Apple recipes were exchanged, fruit tree pruning was learnt the joint commitment to green backyards, hiking trails and apple orchards was celebrated enthusiastically. A specially created apple dance brought movement to the festival and a Capital of Culture anthem set the mood. Green thumbs were also discovered in the prison, and the anticipation is great: two planting festivals will take place in the Capital of Culture year 2025, with the theme "Awakening" (30 March - 6 April 2025) and "Harvest" (19 October - 26 October 2025).
The Botanical Garden, the Natural History Museum and the Parks Department were important partner organisations, as was the Chemnitz allotment gardeners' association. The Rabenstein Hans Carl von Carlowitz Primary School, the Rabenstein Independent Citizens' Initiative and Eissport und Freizeit GmbH, the Chemnitz Adult Education Centre, the DPFA rainbow schools, the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Kleinolbersdorf, the Astrid Lindgren Primary School in Frankenberg, BUND, TAG Wohnen & Service with the Aktiv-Treff Kapps, and the Chemnitz City Council were all involved in the City and Forest Planting Festival. Service with the Aktiv-Treff Kappelkiste, the Volksbank Chemnitz, the prison, the Christuskirchgemeinde Chemnitz Reichenhain, the Studentenwerk Chemnitz Zwickau with the campus daycare centre Campulino and the permaculture garden UniPaRadieschen, the Chemnitz school model with the Chemnitz apple pope Reiner Amme, the company Dschoy with many employees, the NABU with the citizens' initiative Lichtenwalde, the Bandbüro and Radio T with the band Fremdan, the Salute e. V. and the business owners of Chemnitz.V. and the tradespeople from Brühl, as well as the citizens of Chemnitz in the Capital of Culture volunteer programme. With the planting, all partners involved have also taken on the care partnership for the trees and will look after their well-being in the long term.
Apple trees have already been diligently planted in the run-up to the planting festival. On 23 October 2024, Sachsenlotto GmbH and the Chemnitz Zwickau Student Union planted apple trees on the TU Reichenhainer Straße campus. The event was accompanied by music from university radio station UNiCC and a live recording of the Sachsenlotto podcast on the topic of sustainability.
Angela Aux, poet and musician, put it in a nutshell with a loving invitation: "Come on, let's go plant apple trees".
