Freinsheim celebrates town wall fest

The historical wine-growing village of Freinsheim will celebrate its annual “Stadtmauerfest,” or town wall fest today through Monday. 

A medieval curtain wall and Baroque buildings will set the stage for this traditional wine fest. Nineteen food and wine booths will be placed along both sides of the historical town wall over a distance of 1.3 kilometers. Local vintners, restaurant owners and associations will serve Palatinate culinary specialties and regional wines.

The fest will officially open at 7 p.m. today on the historical Marktplatz. The

party band Duo Frank & Ivette will already start playing at 5 p.m. Flames Duo will perform rock music from the 1950s and 1960s at 6 p.m., and the band Anplagd will present rock pop cover songs from the last 60 years.

The Stadtmauerfest will continue at noon Saturday and Monday, and at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Each day the celebration will go on until 1 a.m. the following morning. Numerous bands will present various music styles in different locations.

Stores will stay open until 8 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday, shopping will be offered from 1 to 6 p.m.

The old part of town will be closed to motorized traffic. Visitors are asked to park at the edge of town, from where they only have to walk a few steps to get to the center.

The town wall was built in the 15th century. After the town came under the domination of the electoral palatinate in 1471, the new authorities enforced the walls.

With the erection of the Iron Gate in 1514, construction of the fortification came to an end. Until the beginning of the 19th century, only two gates led out of town. Besides the two town gates, the Iron Gate in the east and the Hain Gate in the southwest, about 20 towers were erected within the wall. Today, five towers are left. Freinsheim is known as one of the nicest and most complete towns in the Pfalz. Exhibiting remains of fortifications in the Pfalz, the town offers visitors a worthwhile tour of the wall, which takes about one hour.

To get to Freinsheim, travel on A6 toward Mannheim, take the Grünstadt exit, and follow the signs to Kirchheim, Dackenheim and Freinsheim.

The Deutsche Bahn railway company will extend its offers tonight and Saturday night. Trains will depart to Neustadt at 10:48 and 11:46 p.m., and at 0:47 a.m. From Neustadt, passengers can travel on to Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl. For details, visit www.bahn.de.

For more information on Freinsheim and the town wall fest, visit www.stadt-freinsheim.de.