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. This is why she can be found volunteering at various events, which she then writes about for the volunteer editorial team.
The Hat Festival in Chemnitz has been held annually in May since 2018. It was something very special in the Capital of Culture year.
31.05.2025, it's 10.15 a.m., I get ready and set off to be at the Red Tower at 11 a.m. on the dot, because that's where the Sports United tent is. The "Fanschal" project is being promoted here. A lot of fan scarves are needed for this project, which will then be sewn together and draped decoratively as a surprise (longest fan scarf) at Sports United on 6 September 2025.
I'll be helping from 11am - 2pm.
The weather is fine and I meet a lot of cheerful people on the way to work, which is not quite so "normal" for this time of year in Chemnitz. I approach some of them because I see that they are trying to take a selfie.
I offer them my help to photograph them together so that the background motifs, e.g. "My home" on the Brühl or the Chemnitz 2025 logo, are clearly recognisable. We get into conversation.
They are tourists from Nuremberg, Berlin and Düsseldorf who are in Chemnitz for the first time because of the Capital of Culture and tell me enthusiastically about my home town. In their eyes, I live in an interesting city where there is a lot to see, it is very green and the inhabitants are friendly and helpful.
This feedback alone has made all the efforts for the "Capital of Culture" worthwhile and I am happy to be part of it with my commitment.
My involvement with Sports United was organised like this: We approached people and drew their attention to the campaign, distributed flyers and invited them to join us at the CFC stadium on 6 September 2025. Most of them didn't know about the event and were happy to take the flyers so they wouldn't forget the date.
There were already an incredible number of people in the city, even though the official start of the Hat Festival was not until 2pm. The short conversations are always the best thing about the event, because you often get a smile back when you are in a positive mood, even if the faces were still negative when you approached them.
Incidentally, we also collected a fan scarf. I finished at 2 p.m. and my fellow volunteers took over.
It was a great job and it showed that you can activate the people of Chemnitz and that our city doesn't look grey and unfriendly in the eyes of our guests.