Karls to Test New Location with Pop-Up Festival

(eap) At the end of last year, Wernigerode on the northeastern flank of Germany’s Harz Mountains was announced as the next location for another Karls Erlebnis-Dorf. However, some time will still pass before the expected opening in 2028 – time that the company will now be using for a temporary test format.

With the so-called “Karls Pop-Up Festival”, Karls plans to provide initial insights into the future offering as early as May this year. The concept includes a manufactory market as well as mobile attractions and is intended both to get visitors in the mood for the planned Erlebnis-Dorf and to deliver valuable insights for the further development of the site. The temporary offer will include, among other things, transportable versions of well-known Karls attractions, including a tractor ride from manufacturer Metall-Technik-Kirschner, a potato sack slide from Metallbau Emmeln and a caterpillar rollercoaster from SBF-Visa. The pop-up festival is expected to stay in Wernigerode for around half a year.

In addition to establishing the brand in the region, the format is intended to analyze operational issues at an early stage. These include, for example, traffic flows or potential noise emissions, the findings of which can be incorporated into further planning and the development plan. As Karls founder and managing director Robert Dahl explained to EAP, the concept could also be applied at other locations in the future. It would be conceivable to tour through various regions with one or two such pop-up formats to evaluate potential sites for new Karls parks. ■