Water Level Festival

“Prices are rising, and so is the atmosphere.” The 2023 Bergfest motto can certainly be taken literally: it’s loud, it’s muggy, and it’s damp both inside and out. The same goes for the prices at the festival: it cost a few euros more to take part this year than it did in 2022. But that was long forgotten when the roughly 360 Bergfest revellers gathered on Tuesday morning on Technikumplatz in front of the university’s main building.

At the official opening, there were a few words of encouragement. Principal Volker Tolkmitt: “We’ve got a brilliant university!” Mittweida’s Mayor Ralf Schreiber: “From now on, it’s all downhill.” Stura Managing Director Gordon Guido Oswald: “You’re all getting beer now. Enjoy the day!” The beer was on the mayor. For most people, it wasn’t their first of the morning. After the lunch break, the Bergfest community’s parade through the university town will take place in the afternoon.

The students are celebrating the ‘Bergfest’, marking the halfway point of their degree programmes. This year, it is the Bachelor’s and Diplom students from the 2021 intake and the Master’s students from the 2022 intake. According to the list, there are 922 in total. Not everyone is taking part, but the university’s Student Council (Stura) is delighted to see the turnout growing again in the second year since the pandemic. “364 registrations for the Bergfest is a wonderful figure and shows that the campus is alive and kicking!” says Samuel Frenzel, Oswald’s new colleague on the Stura executive committee: “Together rather than alone – we are a family, a campus community, and we all stick together as best we can.”

This is also the theme of a series of events taking place around the mid-term break: the ‘Holi Festival’ on 14 June and the first-ever HSMW Beach Day at the Mittweida outdoor swimming pool on 27 June.