Mayor Udo Bausch (independent) and the trade association continue to work on making Rüsselsheim's city center more attractive and revitalizing it.

After a two-year break on October 9th, Riesling Sunday should also contribute to this.

For Susanne Junginger, Vice President of the local trade association, the fact that numerous shops are empty in the city center is one side.

On the other hand, companies such as a drugstore chain or a fitness center and restaurateurs have invested several million euros in the city because they believe in the city center.

While shopping streets in the surrounding cities are mainly characterized by large chain stores, Rüsselsheim relies on the many owner-managed shops in the city.

The mayor agrees.

“I find it amazing how much power there is in the city.

The city center is alive," he emphasized at the press conference on Riesling Sunday, which, according to Junginger, has been a good source of sales for years.

With the event, Rüsselsheim wants to make its position as the city of the first Riesling cultivation clear.

According to Bausch, even many people from Rüsselsheim don't know that the first Riesling wasn't harvested in the Rheingau, but in Rüsselsheim.

The Winzerfreunde were founded in 1985

A document discovered by the local researcher Josef Staab in the Rheingau shows that a Rüsselsheim farmer delivered several Riesling vines to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen in 1455.

It is the first documented mention of the cultivation of Riesling.

But there is also an account from 1401 from Zwingenberg and Auerbach, in which "vineyards" in Rüsselsheim are mentioned.

In the Autostadt, Riesling was actually grown until 1915.

After that, viticulture died out and the automobile industry drew workers to the city.

Until the city planted a new 800 square meter vineyard in 1980, in which Riesling has been harvested again since 1982.

In 1985 the winegrowers' friends were founded and now operate the historic vineyard.

If there isn't a total failure of the harvest, as was the case last year, the winegrower friends, with the support of a Hochheim winegrower, press around 300 liters of wine every year, which is considered a rarity and cannot be bought publicly.

You can order it for about 20 euros per bottle from the winemaker friends, but it is also served on Riesling Sunday.

Otherwise it goes to the city of Rüsselsheim as a lease contribution for the vineyard, which gives it away on special occasions, always with a label from a local artist.

This year's vintage has just ended and the club's chairman, Albrecht Schmidt, describes it as "excellent" in terms of quality, mainly because of the amount of sun this summer.

Since the vines, according to Schmidt, are rooted up to 30 meters deep in the ground, the drought didn't bother them much.

Thanks to the starfish nets, they also survived the hail on September 6th.

“This event really brings momentum to the city”

Winegrower friends are represented with their own stand on Riesling Sunday, which begins at 1 p.m. and ends at 6 p.m., as are Rüsselsheim associations and tradespeople.

The shops in the pedestrian zone are open during this time, and the trade association expects up to 8,000 visitors.

There is music, dance and other performances on Löwenplatz, Friedensplatz, Bahnhofsplatz, Gemeindeplatz and Marktplatz.

"This event really brings momentum to the city," says Junginger, while the mayor sees the opportunity "to show the region what position Rüsselsheim will have in the future".

A revitalization of the inner city should succeed, among other things, with residential development, in order to bring more people back to the center of the city.

The construction project of the non-profit housing association on the former Karstadt site contributes to this, as does the planned residential development in the old Opel plant.