Fete des Vignerons

The Confrerie des Vignerons has inspected the vineyards of the Lavaux and Chablais for centuries and rewarded the best work, and the crowning of those winegrowers became a festival - held not annually but roughly four or five times a century, at intervals of about twenty years, so most people see it two or three times in a lifetime. For each edition a temporary arena is built on the market square at Vevey, seating tens of thousands, a new score and staging are commissioned, and thousands of local volunteers perform; afterwards the arena is taken down completely. The 2019 edition seated around twenty thousand. UNESCO inscribed it on the intangible heritage list in 2016. The next is expected in the 2040s.

What you actually see

• An arena built and then demolished - a temporary structure for each edition.
• A festival once a generation - roughly twenty-year intervals, not annual.
• Thousands of local volunteers - the cast drawn from the region.
• UNESCO intangible listing - inscribed in 2016.

When to go

Only in a festival year. The last was 2019; the next is expected in the 2040s.

Honest expectations

This is the honest catch: there is nothing to attend in an ordinary year. Between editions the Confrerie's museum in Vevey is the only way to see the material. Tickets for an edition sell out far ahead.

Nearby

Vevey and the Lavaux terraces are around; Montreux is along the shore.