Posted March 27, 2006

DeRosa's Diary - Entry One
Article and photos by Diana DeRosa

The City of Aachen and WEG – Work Hand In Hand

Aachen is also known for its many fountains, each with its own tale. The Puppet Fountain is one example of many. This fountain includes puppets with moveable parts and each one represents some aspect of the City.

There’s also the cultural part of Aachen which boasts a variety of museums, concerts, symphonies and more. During WEG one of the goals will be to bring the City to the sportsmen and the sportsmen and spectators to the City. The organizers of WEG have joined forces with Schlösser, who also works for Aachen Tourist Service, and his team who have integrated a cultural program in town with the sports program taking place at WEG.

Michael Mronz, who’s company handles the marketing for WEG, explained that there were a couple of things the organizers decided to focus on when taking over the reins for producing the next World Equestrian Games. One was that they wanted the event to be more centralized so that everything is close together. They have achieved that goal with flying colors. You can walk from the Reining and Vaulting Arena to the Dressage and Show Jumping arena and also to the Driving and Eventing cross country course. All the venues are within walking distance.

An additional goal was to focus on their job. They’d felt that in the past the organizers had tried to do too much. So, they have left the job of the cultural aspects of WEG to the town while they are handling the sporting part. They are working hand-in-hand with Aachen Tourist so that whatever each of them does fits into the others’ plans but that’s where the crossover ends.

“With the City and with everyone we agreed that we are going to focus on all the things that are going to happen onsite. The City and the community are responsible for the cultural things happening. When you spend too much time spreading yourself you lose,” explained Mronz.

Aachen not only is working closely with the WEG Organizers but also with their neighboring countries: Belgium and The Netherlands. These two countries are so close that many of the press and others will not by staying in Aachen but in one of the adjacent countries because some of their accommodations are even closer to the venues.