The Annafest is one of the most traditional festivals in Franconia. It is held in the Kellerwald, at the old beer cellars beneath tall trees, and guests come from all over the region. The city wanted to know how this festival moves: when guests arrive and leave, how full the woods are at any hour and which routes they take.
For the 2026 Annafest, PARQ carried out visitor and traffic counting on behalf of the city of Forchheim, on every day of the festival and around the clock.
- Client
- City of Forchheim
- City
- Kellerwald Forchheim, Annafest 2026
- Period
- All days of the festival, around the clock
- Counted
- Visitors by entrance and direction, traffic by vehicle type
- Counting points
- All entrances to the Kellerwald and the paths between the cellars
- Privacy
- Evaluation in the device, only counts leave the cameras
- Result
- Evaluation report for the city
The starting point
The Kellerwald has no entrance with a ticket booth. Guests arrive via several roads and forest paths, on foot, by bike or by e-scooter, and spread out across many cellars. At a festival like this, how many people are in the woods at the same time can otherwise only be estimated.
For its safety concept, stewarding and traffic planning, the city therefore wanted reliable figures: for every hour of the festival, broken down by entrance and direction. There was also the traffic around the site, from deliveries in the morning to removal at night.
How PARQ counted
At all entrances to the Kellerwald, cameras counted every person entering or leaving the site, broken down by direction. Further cameras counted the paths between the cellars. The same devices recorded traffic, broken down into cars, vans and lorries, motorcycles, bicycles and e-scooters.
Analysis took place directly on the device. Only counts were transmitted, encrypted via mobile network. A counting day only ended in the early morning hours, so that a festival night was not split across two days. After the festival the city received an evaluation report with all figures by day, hour and entrance.
What the city now knows
Instead of estimates, the city now has figures for every hour of the festival. The crowd builds up over the afternoon and peaks in the evening. Sundays are different: at the morning pint (Frühschoppen), most guests arrive as early as the morning. The weekends carry the largest part of the festival.
The way home is considerably more concentrated than the way in. Guests arrive spread over many hours, but a large share leave in the hours around midnight. A large part of the festival passes through the main entrance at the untere Kellerstraße, and one lane is used almost only as an exit in the evening.
Traffic shows a clear picture too: deliveries run early in the morning, removal after midnight. Among guests arriving, bicycles are almost as common as cars, along with many e-scooters, mainly via a path above the Lützelberger Kurve. And because every festival day is matched with the weather by the hour, it is possible to explain why one evening was busier than another.
That the figures are right is shown by a simple cross-check: over the whole festival, entries and exits almost exactly balance. Whoever comes in is also counted on leaving.
What the figures do in day-to-day work
For safety and order, occupancy by the hour shows when the public order service and emergency services are needed most. Occupancy can also be set live against a threshold; when it is reached, a warning goes to the incident command.
For the paths, the counting shows where signage and lighting for the way home make the most difference. For traffic, it shows when delivery time slots make sense and where additional parking areas for bicycles and e-scooters are needed. And the cellars can plan their staffing around the peak times.
In discussions with emergency services, committees and those involved, decisions are thus based on measured figures rather than impressions.
Outlook: the next Annafest
With the same counting points, the figures can be compared directly next year: whether the rush shifts, whether new routes are used and how measures take effect. The data holds much more besides, such as how long vehicles stay.
Counting for your festival or your city
What works in the Kellerwald also works at town festivals, markets and concerts, in town centres, at trade fairs and on roads, for example for an annual traffic count. PARQ counts for you, permanently or for a limited period. Where counting takes place and over what period, we determine together.
If you also use the PARQ parking system, for example as a municipality, you can get the counting free of charge as well.
