Love Parade 2009

After I was looking through some idea topics from Shawn, I saw that he mentioned the "Love Parade". All of a sudden I remembered a scene from some crappy movie... I think possible EuroTrip, where they end up in Berlin in the middle of this massive parade that took up the whole city and I realized that it was the Love Parade. Immediately, I went home and started looking up information hoping that it would be going on during the month of August. To my utter disappointment, the Love Parade this year has been cancelled that was scheduled to be in Bochum.

I found out the love parade has been going on in Germany, usually Berlin, since 1989. Interestingly enough, the parade started after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 as a political demonstration for peace and international understanding through music. Over the years the Love Parade has progressed by becoming more popular around the world bringing tourists and progressing by adding the Turkish electric scene.

The organization is worried that too many people will visit the parade and the city of Bochum can't handle that. In 2008, the Loveparade set a new record with around 1.6 million vistors. Furthermore, the Loveparade is generally a peaceful demonstration, however the becomes increasingly more drug-related and theft problems. The organization hopes that the Loveparade will return next year, and hopefully in 2010, return back to Berlin, in celebration of love, freedom and techno.