Bremen has what other cities don't: the ice bet. Every year, people bet on whether or not the Weser will be frozen over on January 6. What began almost 200 years ago as a fun idea of Bremen merchants has developed into a unique social event. At the ice betting festival on the third Saturday in January

around 800 guests are invited to celebrate with a tasty cabbage and pinkel meal and to collect donations for the sea rescuers (DGzRS).
607,764 euros were collected for the sea rescuers at the 196th ice betting festival on January 18, 2025 at the Congress Centrum Bremen.

They go out when others go in: The German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) is on duty around the clock and in all weathers to rescue shipwrecked people. They have 60 rescue units, 55 stations, 1,000 sea rescuers and around
around 2,000 missions every year.

With a crew of 200 employees and 800 volunteers, the sea rescuers are out and about on the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Life-saving missions that are financed almost exclusively by donations. The largest single donation is collected every year at the Ice Race Festival.

It is said that for the first time in November 1828, a total of 18 gentlemen from good families bet on whether or not the Weser would be frozen over by January 4, 1829 in the morning before sunrise. The wager was a communal cabbage supper. This bet has been repeated every year since then.

Since 1928, the ice bet has always taken place on January 6 on the Weser dyke with a traditional ceremony. Also since 1928, donations have been collected at the ice betting festival for the benefit of sea rescuers.