ZURICH - Crowds packed the Albisguetli grounds on Sunday for the Knabenschiessen fair, the folk half of a shooting festival the city has kept for centuries. The main target event falls on the second Monday in September. This year that is 14 September, overlapping with the first day of the federal autumn session in Bern.
City police described the Sunday turnout as heavy and the mood as calm. Tram line 13 ran extra services toward the site. Stallholders said spending was steady, with fewer big-ticket prizes than before the pandemic but more families staying into the evening. The shooting itself remains a youth competition. Girls have taken part for years, a change that once caused an argument and now barely raises a comment in the queues.
A city that is also a housing story
Between the Ferris wheel and the lake, the other Zurich conversation does not pause. Tenant groups used the weekend to hand out flyers on the new density rules, arguing that festival crowds prove the city is growing faster than its flats. The city government would rather talk about tradition than zoning at Albisguetli, and for one weekend it mostly got its wish.
Visitors from other cantons asked the usual questions about tickets, lockers and whether the rain would hold. It did, just. Forecasts for Monday's shooting day were cooler. Coverage of federal politics continues in our session opening report.