2013 Luther500 Festival starts in Wittenberg

Media Release

During the week of June 17 to 23 participants from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Germany will gather in Wittenberg Germany, for the Luther500 Festival where for one week they will follow the steps of the Reformation in the town where Martin Luther lived and worked.  The multi-faceted Festival is both pilgrimage and play, both service and celebration.

The travel portal www.smartertravel.com calls the Luther500 Festival  one of the ten "Hottest Summer Festivals and Events" in the World.

Festival goers will choose between different program options and activities in and around Wittenberg. Creative activities are offered in addition to the sightseeing walks and museums visits. Participants can model a Luther rose from clay, attend a painting workshop and make music. There is canoeing on the Elbe River, and bicycle riding through towns and on German bicycle routes.  Day trips to Wartburg castle and Erfurt, Leipzig and Eisleben, as well as to Berlin are part of the program.

As with the first festival in 2011, the "program and interest centers do not happen in lecture halls but in historic sites, in the churches and homes, squares of Wittenberg, and other important Luther-related locations where Reformation events took place in the 16th Century," according to Michael Bridges of the Los Angeles-based band LOST AND FOUND, an organizer of the Festival. Service projects like cleaning the local cemetery, planting the Luther garden, and serving both the Catholic and the Protestant pre-schools will allow participants to impact and interact with the local community. 

Morning Prayers for the Luther500 festival will be hosted by the Catholic congregation in Wittenberg, and Evening Prayers are in the town church. The Augustinian monastery of Erfurt, the church where Martin Luther was baptized in Eisleben, and the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Memorial Church in Berlin will also host Evening Prayers for the Festival.

 The public is welcome for a concert on Saturday evening in the Wittenberg convention center. Alathea, Lost And Found, Rachel Kurtz and Tangled Blue will perform. Smaller concerts are also planned during the week in village churches throughout the area. "In connecting the festival with the churches and villages in the Wittenberg area, we want to bring encouragement and appreciation to local residents, showing them that the 'Lutherdecade' is not just a tourism event", says Christian Utpatel of Terra Lu Travel, another Festival organizer.  He adds, "After the flood that recently damaged many German towns including Wittenberg, we hope this encouragement is especially meaningful and important."

 Background:

The Luther500 Festival is presented by the U.S. music group Lost And Found.

The German organizer is Terra Lu Travel & Consult, specialist for Reformation travel, consulting, and the developing of events. Terra Lu is the author of Wittenberg county's marketing concept for the LutherDecade.

For 2014 Terra Lu organizes the Refo500 Train, a chartered train which will connect the European Reformation cities.

With 3+ Million Newsletter subscribers and more than 1 Million visitors per Month, smartertravel.com is one of the largest online travel resources. They include the Luther500 Festival into the ten "Hottest Summer Festivals and Events of 2013", beside America's Cup, Queen Elizabeth's coronation Festival, and the Aichi Triennale Japan.

 Mehr Info about the Festival at http://www.Luther500.com 

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The Luther500 Festival is made by LOST AND FOUND (www.speedwood.com) and Terra Lu Travel (www.Terra-Lu-Travel.com) The Luther500 Festival is a recognized event of the Luther-Decade and the Refo500 foundation.

Germany Office:

The Luther500 Festival
c/o Terra Lu Travel
Rev. Christian Utpatel
Pfarrstrasse 18  |  34576 Homberg, Germany
phone +49 5681 84 88 81 | fax +49 5681 84 88 82

www.Luther500.com