Disclosed is a festooner and a method for buffering a strip, wherein the festooner includes a first holder and a second holder which are oppositely movable towards and away from each other in a buffer direction to vary a buffer capacity of the festooner, and a first set of buffer rollers and a second set of buffer rollers held by the first holder and the second holder, respectively, wherein the first set of buffer rollers and the second set of buffer rollers define a meandering buffer path between them. The festooner further includes an endless drive element for driving each buffer roller, wherein the festooner further includes an overlength collector for collecting and paying out an overlength of the endless drive element.