In the volunteer editorial team, Volunteers for Chemnitz 2025 publish reports on their experiences, assignments and adventures around the European Capital of Culture.
Gabriele is 61 years old and works as a customer advisor. She lives in Schlosschemnitz and enjoys doing her bit for her home town. That's why she can be found volunteering at various events, which she then writes about for the volunteer editorial team.
This assignment was probably my “sweetest”, because the theme was "chocolate".
I'm a chocolate fan, so I absolutely had to take part in this event as a volunteer. It's a European chocolate festival that focuses on artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate and promotes awareness of fair trade and sustainability in cocoa farming. In 2025, it was organised in the Chemnitz Industrial Museum as part of the Capital of Culture Chemnitz. This is my favourite museum in Chemnitz, even without chocolate. The combination of the beautiful industrial building, the exhibits on display and the smell of chocolate was unbeatable.
It was my turn on 3 August from 2pm to 6pm. My job was to direct the queuing visitors in front of the museum so that the waiting time at the ticket office wasn't unnecessarily long: Visitors with an online ticket to the left, visitors without an online ticket to the right, to the end of the queue. There was a lot of interest and the visitors thought it was very nice to be greeted in a friendly manner before entering the museum. During my break, I was able to visit the many chocolate stands myself, taste some delicious chocolate and learn a lot about how it is made and about cocoa in general. The organisers of the festival were very generous. We were given two free tickets (for us and one visitor) and 4 vouchers. In return, there was delicious food, cool drinks, ice cream and coffee specialities in the outdoor area of the museum. There were also a lot of people there and they enjoyed the offers just as much as we did. Visitors could also register for tastings or lectures. The chocolate of the year was then chosen in the evening as part of the tastings. There were various programme items on the stage in the outdoor area throughout the day, which the visitors gladly accepted.
After our service, we volunteers sat together for a while, had a drink and shared our experiences. I also have very fond memories of this assignment.