Funded small cultural promotion projects in Chemnitz: Halloween neighbourhood festival

Eerily beautiful Halloween spectacle in the Hilbersdorf district

On the evening of 30 October 2022, a Harry Potter Halloween scavenger hunt for children took place in and around the Saxon Railway Museum Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf.

There were eight stations for the sorcerer's apprentices to find and discover. The route to each station was modelled on the Harry Potter theme. Only the stations themselves deviated from this theme to make them easier to recognise.

It all began with Mad Eye Moody and his mean house-elf Kreacher, who greeted the children, handed them their wands and accompanied them through platform 9 3/4. At platform 9 3/4, a train was waiting for the children, who were guided by a scary conductor and brought them to the evil Ursula and Arielle, who was to be rescued.

At each station, puzzles had to be solved in order to receive a new clue that would lead them to the next station.

The children made their way through woods, meadows and gardens to the remaining stations, where Dr Facilier and the Witch of Oz, the evil Genie from Aladdin, the Hatter and Alice, Snow White and her dwarf, Grindelwald and finally Dobby awaited the children. There were also other creepy characters on the way to the stations, just waiting to scare the children.

After the final against Grindelwald and the conquest of the missing item of clothing for the dear house elf Dobby, the children were allowed to exchange the item of clothing for a reward from Dobby.

At the end, there was a Halloween party with food and drinks for all participants, children, performers, supervisors and parents. A highlight was taking photos with favourite Harry Potter and Disney characters. A prize-giving ceremony for the three best self-carved pumpkins, which were brought along by the participating children, brought this successful evening for young and old to a close.

This was the third time the Halloween neighbourhood festival had been held. It has grown steadily from year to year. It started with 10 children and now over 55 children took part in the Halloween spectacle.

Behind the spooky event is a four-person organisation team: Stephanie Betka as organiser, Bianca Leukart as decorator, Roman Steiger as organiser and communicator and Mike Beckert as the person responsible for finances and organisation.

The project was funded as part of the City of Chemnitz's small project funding programme and by the Chemnitz North-East Citizens' Platform of DELPHIN-Projekte gGmbH.

The project was also supported by the Saxon Railway Museum Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf e. V.