Laub, the town's former commune, now a museum, has witnessed the Lower Alsace Minstrel Festival for centuries. Since 1686, every two or three years, in mid-August, another memorable institution revived in the city: the Pfiffersdàà, the Feast of the Pipers and Minstrels of Alsace, a guild whose splendor dated back to the Middle Ages. On the Saturday after the Feast of the Assumption, peasants from nearby villages would arrive in town, enticed by a liturgy organized around the ingestion of numerous barrels of beer, in the midst of the Rhine heat, worthy of tropical climates. On the Lion d'Or Square, behind the Laub, the borough's ancient commune, all of the city's musical associations and municipal fanfares from neighboring boroughs gathered. Also grouped there were the historical pageant figures decked out in the strangest costumes, taken for the occasion from the reserves of the region's small local museums and folk theaters. After the opening reception, Sylvaner a go go and almond kougelhopf offered by the municipal authorities, the long-awaited historical procession by the festive population began.