“Boldly breaking new ground”: Lord Mayor Kiechle opens the Allgäu Festival Week

Created: 08/13/2022, 15:36

By: Susanne Lüderitz

The Stadtkapelle Kempten provided festive flair in front of the David Bowie backdrop at the opening of the Allgäu Festival Week in the packed Stadttheater Kempten.

© Karl Jena

Kempten – At the opening ceremony of the Allgäu Festival Week in Kempten, the Lord Mayor of Kempten focused on the strength of each individual and the community as well as important values ​​in order to overcome upcoming crises.

"We can be heroes - just for one day", also sang David Bowie alias Hans Piesbergen from the theater in Kempten, which is currently showing a play about the pop icon.

Guest of Honor Prime Minister Markus Söder spoke about crises and feats of strength.

And in front of the Stadttheater, where the opening took place, the demonstrators were already forming up against the planned motorway-like expansion of the B12.

The air in the packed Kempten City Theater shimmered with joyful anticipation.

Allgäu and Bavarian celebrities from politics, business, culture as well as notables from crafts, education and agriculture had the honor, above all the Bavarian Prime Minister Dr.

Markus Soder.

"Finally festival week again!" You could tell the joy of the festival guests dressed in chic dirndls and lederhosen.

Allgäu Festival Week: "Yes, of course, that's necessary, and how!"

The Lord Mayor of Kempten, Thomas Kiechle, was particularly pleased to be able to reopen the Allgäu Festival Week after a two-summer break.

“Yes, is that necessary?” he asked freely after Gerhard Polt and took up the critical voices in the run-up to the event.

"Yes, of course, that's what's needed, and wia!" The festival week is taking place again to the usual extent, only the business exhibition is a little smaller.

The last two years have been like a "roller coaster".

After Corona there was also the Ukraine war, the energy crisis and supply bottlenecks, which made individuals and the economy look to the future with concern.

But "crises are the nucleus for new ideas," he focused on the positive.

In the Corona period, people had rediscovered the value of community.

"We have to shape the future and boldly break new ground!"

The Allgäu is well positioned for future tasks with its "robust economy".

The shortage of skilled workers and the many unfilled apprenticeships testified to strong economic development.

And yet the mayor was not free of wishes.

Researchers as usual, Kiechle formulated his demands to the Prime Minister: "To be honest, I'm tired of the fact that our region is constantly being labeled 'Dieselloch-Allgäu'," Kiechle exclaimed, pointing to a lack of electrification of the Allgäu railway lines.

"I just want this task to be finally tackled professionally and together!" And for the sixth construction phase for the expansion of the Kempten University of Applied Sciences, the plans are on the table.

"Now it's a matter of the ministries untying the knot."

“Climate change requires change in our minds”

In Kempten, people are preparing for the future and are pushing digitization - for example in a "Smart City" - as well as education with investments in numerous school buildings or to counteract climate change with the "Climate Plan 2035".

The city wants to be carbon neutral by 2035.

Ways of acting that have been used for decades would have to be "more reconsidered" to achieve this goal.

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And with regard to the economy, he diagnosed that "growth must come from the region more than ever in future" than from outside.

A successful, young example of this is Ehrenmüller GmbH from Kempten, whose 29-year-old boss Dr.

He asked Julia König about her recipe for success.

The IT company works with artificial intelligence, which König says is a key to the company's success.

But the ability to react quickly to developments is also important these days.

And: fun at work should not be missing.

Which values ​​are important?

The mayor of Kempten specifically asked about the values ​​that are important to König.

"For me, the focus is on working together, everyone has their strengths," emphasized the company boss.

Pastor Rupert Ebbers from the Working Group of Christian Churches in Kempten, in which the Roman Catholic Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Old Catholic Church, Romanian Orthodox Church and AlpenChurch worked together, emphasized solidarity in practice.

In a society that is becoming more diverse, it is above all necessary to really perceive the other.

He was pleased that in a time of changing values ​​people were asking about values ​​again and that young people were returning to Christian values.

The Christian awareness of values ​​makes a contribution to a successful society.

A guest from the past exuded glitz and glamor

"Let's look ahead together!" Mayor Thomas Kiechle shouted into the hall, "We have so much in store!" He encouraged and the Kempten town band began to play the march "Viribus Unitis" by Josef Bach - ' With united forces', a motto of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

The musical intermezzo by David Bowie also fitted in with this – with the song line “We can be heroes” bringing a pop greeting from the past, together with glitter and glamour, in a white sparkling outfit in front of a colorfully lit zebra-striped stage.

Together with the musicians and actors Michael Schönmetzer and Sebastian Strehler, the actor Hans Piesbergen from the theater in Kempten brought the audience to intermittent applause, contrary to convention.

Some sang along: "We can be heroes - just for one day."