Buskers Festival - Old Town Bern

Last night was the final night of the 3-day Buskers Festival.  Buskers are street artists, and there were many musical groups, as well as mimes, yo yo experts, jugglers, and more!  There were over 300 different acts, so we only got a small sampling.  There were probably almost that many food booths as well, so we shared some Thai, and then some Indian, as we wandered the cobblestone streets from performance to performance.

It was often difficult to see over the heads of all the people in front of us - so not all the pictures are great - but you can get a feel for some of the individuals and groups we saw!  Plus you can see the spirit of fun that the onlookers brought to the festival!

These guys were just getting in the mood!

I was hiding behind Darrell but this girl loved the mime

This group was awesome with their home-made instruments and creative music

Besides the music and other artists, there was an entire park that was devoted to a lot of great kids activities and artists.  There were several spray paint artists making some great canvases.

Spray paint artist

There were also all these crazy toys for kids to play on.  And no one had to sign any liability waivers to use any of the equipment.  Parents were sending their kids down a ramp made of rolling conveyors in trays.  There was also an old car tire on a base with four wheels that parents were spinning their kids in.

This girl had an attentive parent.  Most were just sending them sailing down on their own!

Older kids were whirling by on unicycles and crazy bicycles.  Check out these two bicycles.  Notice how the pedals are arranged on the second bike.


It was really fun to watch.  There was also a contest for power tool-driven creations to go down a wooden ramp.  We missed the contest but we saw some amazing contenders.

The five-wheeled chicken-mobile

After the craziness of the park, we headed back into the streets to see more performances.  By the end of the evening (for us, not for people who can stay up past ten!) we had heard rock, folk, Irish, Asian throat chanting, latin dance, and more.  We checked in again on the stick-builder below.  We don't know if he got as tall as the Munster tower, but he was trying!

He's got a ways to go, but he is making progress!

I will leave you with an eastern European folk group.  It was a fantastic evening.

A lovely way to end the evening