The Village

The village's businesses come first — that is the rule. The hotels house the participants; the restaurants and kitchens set every table; the shops are part of the weekend. Outside suppliers come in only where the village does not offer the service.

The Gulden is accepted in the participating businesses. And Gersau originals run through the weekend: the Käsekuchen — a savory cheese tart from a recipe some 150 years old — and coffee from the village's own roastery.

Three institutions of the village hold a position of honor across the weekend — each for one pillar of the old free state:

• the Hosts of the Republic — the open door: they receive the guests and open the doors of the village.
• the Keepers of the Land — self-sufficiency: they stand for the regional produce at the table.
• the Keepers of Memory — remembrance: they stand as witnesses of honor at the Investiture.

Positions of honor are not for sale. They are never sponsored and never paid — only held.

In 2014, Gersau showed how a village shapes its own anniversary — down to the reverse of the Gulden, which came from a youth competition. LIBERTAS adopts that pattern: every edition carries at least one element that comes from the village and is shaped by the village. Which ones, is decided in conversation — not on a drawing board.

Friday: The cars arrive on the lakefront. In the early evening, the Investiture at the old town hall, then the Crossing.

Saturday and Sunday: Start on the village square at 09:30, return at 17:45. Saturday evening, the table in the village; Sunday evening, the closing ceremony on the village square.

On spaces, times, and traffic in detail, we inform residents directly before the weekend.

«Gersau bleibt Gersau, ein freies Volk, ein freies Land.» ("Gersau remains Gersau, a free people, a free land.") — the inscription on the fountain before the old town hall carries this weekend as an homage. If the village ever feels otherwise, we seek the conversation. First.

For concerns from the village and from the authorities, the organizer keeps a single point of contact — before, during, and after the weekend.