Dortmund.
The “Once Upon A Time” festival takes guests to a world beyond everyday life at Dortmund’s Zollern colliery. A program for young and old.
“Once Upon a Time” – “Once upon a time”, that’s how most fairy tales begin. And as is well known, anything can happen in them: from the big bad wolf disguising himself as a grandmother, to the fire-breathing dragon, to the journey to the center of the earth. The “Once Upon a Time” festival in Dortmund presents itself as diverse as the fairytale world. From May 27th to 29th, all sorts of imaginative figures will be bustling about at Zeche Zollern, transforming the site into a dreamlike world beyond everyday life.
For example, a grass-green dragon wanders around in it. Onil is an insatiable monster with a magical stomach. He munches old train tickets, receipts and other junk to make wonderful new things out of them. Sometimes the dragon even lays an egg, dares a little dance or lets it smoke. But above all he is one thing: fond of children.
Gilbert Jakubczyk lets imaginary fleas do somersaults
Gilbert Jakubczyk also spits meter-high fountains of fire. The Frenchman, who has been walking the streets of Paris since he was 13, learned this from a fire-eater. Gilbert, le Saltimbanque du Paradis, as Jakubczyk calls himself, also fascinates the public with completely different attractions – some of them seemed to have died out long ago. For example, he also appears with his imaginary flea lady Fifine, who jumps into a pool of water with a daring somersault.
Magician Sascha Lange would also like to ensure amazed faces. At the magic show “Salasas Fair of Wonders” he takes the audience into the world of magic. Together with the sorceress Steffi and the doll Flitzikus, he invents magic spells, does laundry without electricity and paints in a magical coloring book – all of course with a large pinch of humor and tailored to the youngest visitors of the “Once Upon a Time” festival.
There’s magic beyond time at the Once Upon a Time Festival
There are also magical moments with Anaïs. She has been working as a magician and pantomime for more than 20 years and moves beyond time. Anaïs does not want to amaze with rapid tricks, but with a game of slowness, in which coins suddenly penetrate solid matter, what is torn becomes whole and what is invisible becomes visible.
The historic fairground rides that are spread out over the site are hard to miss. Visitors can climb into a chain plane, a caterpillar and a historic Ferris wheel. In addition, lovers of vintage cars can do a lap in the “self-driver”. Models from Corvette, Mercedes & Co. are ready to board the wooden post scooter from the 1950s – in colorful mini format, of course.
A steampunk market attracts with numerous exhibitors
The offer is supplemented by walking acts and a steampunk market with various exhibitors. Steampunk combines futuristic techniques with Victorian tools and materials, giving any invention a retro look. Incidentally, the roots of steampunk can be found in the novels and stories of HG Wells and Jules Verne. The two of them didn’t write fairy tales, but at least the Frenchman Jule Verne is considered the creator of the science fiction genre – “Back to the future” instead of “Once upon a time”.
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