Credit: Caroline Martin

The Upper Sûre Nature Park has announced that its traditional "Waasserfest" (water festival) will go ahead this weekend (8-9 May 2021), albeit in an adapted format.

The motto of this year's water festival is "up close and yet at a distance". Due to the pandemic, the format of the event has been adapted. Visitors can now choose from a variety of free events in all the member municipalities of the Upper Sûre Nature Park (Boulaide, Esch-sur-Sûre, Lac de la Haute-Sûre, Winseler and Wiltz), as well as in the municipality of Goesdorf, which is a candidate for membership. Everything revolves around the subject of water in relation to the nature park's different areas of work of the natural park.

In line with the theme for this year's World Water Day, "Valuing Water", the festival features a water and textiles workshop within the framework of the H2Only project, which raises awareness about the sustainable use of water. Visitors will also have the opportunity to examine the typical soils of the region and learn about the properties of soils which are crucial for the water supply of plants.

For more active participants, an open water swimming course is offered in collaboration with the extreme sportsman Guy Bertemes. Mountain bikers can look forward to a sporting excursion during which they will receive information about nature as well as drinking water in some places.

In addition, various walks in the region of the Upper Sûre Nature Park are on the agenda.

The traditional raft construction has also been adapted to current measures. Instead of a joint craft session in the centre of the nature park, raft builders need to get creative at home. In the interest of fairness, exact specifications regarding materials and dimensions can be found in the water festival programme brochure. Rafts can be returned until 11 May 2021 at the nature park shop in Esch-sur-Sûre (15 Rue de Lultzhausen) or during one of the events.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there is a limited number of participants in events and all participants must register in advance.

Further information is available in the programme brochure (link above) or at www.naturpark-sure.lu.