Record-Breaking Summer Square in Skövde Attracts Over 21,700 Visitors

The Summer Square (Sommartorg) at Hertig Johans Square has broken its own visitor record once again. Between June 7th and August 17th, the event attracted 21,700 people – a significant increase from 18,000 last year and 14,000 the year before.

Summer Highlights

The Summer Square has become a definitive meeting place for both Skövde residents and visitors – a free and appreciated oasis in the city center. This year’s most popular activities included:

• Face painting on Fridays
• Mega chess
• Ping pong
• Video game ”Out of Hand”
• Floorball rink

New and Appreciated Features

New additions this season included:

• Fritidsbanken (Recreation Bank) offering equipment loans
• Floorball rink
• Skövde Skateboard Association’s skate ramp

Other notable events included Balthazar Science Center’s small activities, book inspirators reading books, and a massive public screening of Sweden’s quarter-final football match that drew over 1,000 spectators.

Intergenerational Collaboration

The Summer Square was staffed by the municipality’s summer workers and the Veteran Pool, who worked actively as mentors.

”For the third year in a row, the Veteran Pool has had the great pleasure of staffing the Summer Square in Skövde. This year, we’ve been present as mentors during weekdays. The collaboration between generations has worked fantastically – full of engagement, work joy, and community,” said Paul Hanna from the Veteran Pool.

Project Success

Emma Edqvist, project manager from Next Skövde/Citysamverkan, expressed her satisfaction with reaching the summer’s visitor goals.

”The fact that we continue to attract more and more visitors to the city center with the Summer Square is proof that this is an appreciated activity. It attracts families with children, youth, and even older visitors. My goal was to reach 20,000 – and I’m both happy and proud that we exceeded that. The result shows that free activities in the city center serve an important function, especially during the summer,” she said.

The Summer Square is project-managed by Skövde Citysamverkan and funded by Skövde municipality along with several property owners and businesses.