Zwiesel’s Grenzland Fair is one of the most tradition-steeped folk festivals in the region and is one of the high points in the glass town’s event calendar (Veranstaltungskalender).

In the early days, people in rural regions only knew about large folk festivals from larger cities, such as Straubing or Landshut.  The growing market town of Zwiesel wanted to compete with the other towns and hosted the region’s first folk festival in 1880.

Events such as Youth Day, Community Day or the Bavarian-Bohemian Day now hold steady parts on the nine-day festival schedule.  The crowning finale of the event is the magnificent fireworks display.

And this, too, is unique:

When the mighty horses compete every two years during the skill competition for brewery wagons (see Brauereiwagen-Geschicklichkeitsfahren), they actually continue an old tradition that goes back to the very first folk fairs in Zwiesel.  In those days, participants from all of Bavaria and the neighboring countries lined up for the competition.

By now, the “Rosserers“ – i.e., the coachmen – have to overcome an obstacle course with their stately decorated teams, which begins in the Angerstrasse and ends in the Frauenauer Strasse. Then and now, many thousand visitors follow this spectacle.