Volunteers for Chemnitz 2025 publish reports on their experiences, assignments and adventures around the European Capital of Culture.
Bettina and Bodo live in Neukirchen in the Ore Mountains. Bettina has been a volunteer since 2024 and contributes her valuable voluntary experience to the European Capital of Culture gGmbH. Bodo has been a volunteer from the very beginning and has been involved in Chemnitz 2025 for several years. He uses his organisational expertise in the volunteer editorial team and takes care of archiving the texts.
The opening of the Makerhub, including the event kitchen and winter village, on 1 February 2025 in Neukirchen/Erzgebirge was a wonderful event that captured people's hearts. For weeks, the residents of the community and from Chemnitz and the surrounding area had been eagerly awaiting this special event of the Capital of Culture Chemnitz.
Our shift started at 6 p.m., but we wanted to experience the exciting atmosphere beforehand. So we made our way to the Makerhub at 4.30 pm. Even from a distance, we could hear the rousing music and the enthusiastic voices of the visitors.
In front of and inside the Makerhub, numerous highlights were organised by local associations and clubs: The official opening of the event kitchen at 3.00 pm, followed by a performance by Tanz AG at 4.30 pm. The warmth and joy of the staff and the Managing Director of Kulturhauptstadt gGmbH, Stefan Schmidtke, who welcomed us, was palpable everywhere.
The children in particular got their money's worth: They were allowed to bake together with the mayor and representatives of the local council in the event kitchen. The live music and DJ created a wonderful atmosphere - from relaxed to exuberant party sounds in the evening.
There were lots of creative activities for the whole family, such as face painting, nail painting, marbles and a memory game organised by the Kulturhauptstadt Europas Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH. We were impressed by the huge number of visitors, which continued until the end of the event. There was laughter and celebration everywhere and the good humour was palpable. The weather also played along and contributed to the perfect atmosphere.
Our job was to bake and supervise the mini pizzas created by the children and adults in the oven. The pizza dough sponsored by Adorf's Viertel bakery tasted excellent and many members of the Neukirchen community as well as us volunteers lent a helping hand at the pizza stand. Mayor Mr Tham was everywhere and spread good cheer. Outside, live music with Mason's one-man band and DJ Egge rounded off the programme with mulled wine, beer and snacks.
Things quietened down around 9pm as families with small children left in good spirits. At 10.15 pm we were bid a friendly farewell and everyone agreed:
This event was a great success for Neukirchen and for the Capital of Culture and will remain in our memories for a long time.
We are already looking forward to another highlight in 2025: the 48-hour cooking marathon at Makerhub Neukirchen from 15 to 18 August.
