Rural youth camps in canton Vaud are going from strength to strength. Over a weekend in July, swissinfo.ch headed to Cremin, a small village which was welcoming 30,000 people at the traditional “Giron de la Broye”. 

Samuel Jaberg Christoph Balsiger

The five-day sporting festivals, “girons” in French, are the highlight of the year for many young locals, with events including football, volleyball, athletics, pétanque, wrestling and tug-of-war. 

The festival is always officially opened on a Sunday, followed by a procession into the host village. The main festival ground has a shelter and several bars. The members of the youth associations generally sleep in caravans, trailers or old postbuses which have been decorated with names and symbols of the respective association. 

Every five years there is a cantonal festival: three weeks of events during which youth associations from the various regions get together. 

At the Giron de la Broye, which took place this year from July 15-20, young men and women ensured that this rural tradition continued. 

(Images: Christoph Balsiger and Samuel Jaberg, swissinfo.ch)