What a highlight after three years of a pandemic pause: Various interpretations of Beethoven music - sometimes classical, or with a rock interpretation, synthesizer or jazz sound - was sent out on the soundwaves on Saturday evening along with the huge fireworks at Rhine in Flames in the Rheinaue in Bonn. Tens of thousands of people looked up to the sky and enjoyed the fireworks, which were actually supposed to be set off for the Beethoven anniversary in 2020, but were canceled due to Covid. At the end of the spectacle, which lasted about 18 minutes, there was a thunderous finale with "Freude schöner Gotterfunken” (“Ode to Joy”). In short: pure goose bumps.

As early as 4 p.m., tens of thousands of people made a pilgrimage to the park to see around 40 bands, along with the 200 vendors set up at the Rheinaue.

The bad weather in the afternoon did not deter the visitors and they danced - partly with umbrellas - in front of the main stage. At the beginning, the band "Boogie Wonder Stars" kicked off things in the afternoon. "Although the weather gods are not so kind to us, you are here, we are here, and we are happy to share a few Earth, Wind and Fire songs with you," said singer Ji-In Cho.

In the evening, it became almost like a German Carnival atmosphere - and that with dry weather: The bands Miljö, the Domstürmer and Paveier, followed by the Klüngelköpp stood on the main stage. Finally, the fireworks were framed by the performance of Sir William, who kept visitors celebrating and dancing until midnight, before they made their way home.

In order to transport the many visitors safely away from the Rheinaue, the Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) ran their trams more often than usual. "Every five to ten minutes, a tram runs to the Rheinaue stop," SWB spokeswoman Steffi Ziesnitz told GA late Saturday night. "So far, everything is running smoothly," the spokeswoman said. Stadtwerke also had several service employees on duty at the stop to ensure that everything ran smoothly, she added.

In the early evening, however, a collision between a tram and a car at Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz caused obstructions. During the accident investigation, no trams were able to reach the stop for about 50 minutes.

In the run-up to the event, the organizers had announced that they expected more than 130,000 visitors to the Rheinaue, anticipating that people would want to make up for the years lost due to the pandemic.

Orig. text: Michael Wrobel, Jill Mylonas

The Citizens' Service Center will be closed on Monday due to a company outing, prompting various reactions from local politicians. Last week, massive IT problems meant that many people were not served despite having had appointments or they had to put up with hours of waiting. The service center has also been the subject of frequent criticism in the past.

FDP council faction leader Werner Hümmrich thinks company outings are no longer in keeping with the times anyway. "To promote a positive working climate and cooperation, you can also organize such an outing for a Saturday, as is normal for many companies." CDU council faction leader Guido Déus said, "on which day the company outing takes place is an organizational decision that the mayor has to make, taking into consideration the citizen services." Greens, SPD and Volt from the council coalition said a company outing is important for team-building reasons. "Because such a company outing must be planned well in advance due to the scheduling issues addressed in the Citizen's Office, the technical problems last week could not have been anticipated.”

The city cannot say how many appointments were cancelled or had to be postponed in the wake of recent IT problems. The rescheduling primarily led to increased waiting times, "because additional appointments were made available to compensate for the cancelled appointments at short notice.” In the meantime, the IT problems have been resolved, the office manager said. Waiting times for new appointments made online are about four weeks out in the branches and about eight weeks in the main service center in the municipal building. Currently, appointments can be scheduled through the end of the year, he said.

Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen, Philipp Königs

When the sun shines and the temperatures rise, the outdoor terraces of the cafés and restaurants in Bonn's city center fill up quickly. Until recently, however, some terraces were still enclosed, or had a tarp roof overhead. According to city regulations, these structures were supposed to have disappeared by the end of March.

Since the Covid pandemic, many customers prefer to stay outdoors on the terraces of cafés and pubs - even in winter. After the lockdowns, this was an opportunity to meet up with other people again without any great risk of infection. In the beginning, it was mainly outdoor heating stands that ensured it didn’t get too cold during winter. But since then, the city has called for climate protection and energy conservation - and for establishments to do away with these energy guzzlers. Many restaurant owners took advantage of the opportunity to put a roof over their terraces and protect customers from wind and weather with tarpaulins on the sides. The Bonn city council then decided that the city administration should tolerate these structures until the end of March. But some politicians were upset by the uncontrolled growth of roofs and tents that had gradually developed.

Notices were sent out that these outdoor structures had to be removed by March 31 at the latest. By the end of April, most of them had still not been deconstructed. The city has sent out and continues to send out around 400 letters in total to remind the businesses about the required removal of the structures, and will take legal action for those who do not comply.

The letters have apparently had an affect because there are few of these remaining outdoor structures to be seen in Bonn’s city center. Sun umbrellas are still permitted.

Orig. text: Lisa inhoffen

Translations: ck