There is a "square" between one of the two local "Grundschules" (grades 1-4), the Rathaus and the city owned multi use "hall." It isn't a very pretty square, and most of the time it serves as nothing more than a place for the school kids to play ball, jump rope or otherwise hang out during recess periods (there is also a play structure there). But once a year, it becomes party central for an entire town.
For the fest, the square is filled with the typical German folding fest tables and benches. Large umbrellas are erected over them all to protect from both sun and rain. A stage is erected on one end, for live music and all around the permitted, tens and trucks are set up selling food and drink--nearly all of which are fundraisers for the local "sport clubs." Most such clubs work the town fest, the Kerwe and possibly one other event (the adults only Faschings party, for example) and through those fund 90% of their operating costs. The results is a year of Volleyball runs Dave less than 100 Euro in fees, and when Marika took karate locally it cost a whopping 55 Euro a YEAR!
I love these little town festivals. They are so laid back and so fun and relaxing. We literally walk out our door and are at the fest in less than 5 minutes of leisurely walking. Food and drink is reasonable (most sodas and beers were right around 2 Euro and a meal of wurst or schnitzel with pommes or other sides ran about 6-7 Euro).
Friday night, Dave and I went over for about 3 hours in the evening. We sat at one of the long tables, joined from time to time by others--it is a very friendly atmosphere and nice for meeting people. Friday night was all local to our own little town bands, and we had fun listening to the music and people watching.
You see everything from infants in strollers and toddlers dancing with parents, to 7 year olds running around with friends, to teens dressed to be noticed and hanging out in groups or as couples, to middles aged couples to elderly folks dancing with their canes. As the sun goes down, the weather becomes very pleasant and the party was still going strong (for ALL ages, even toddlers) when Dave and I meandered home around 11:00.
Here is an odd photo I took of the drinks on the table next to us:
You'll notice that at this outdoor festival, everyone is drinking from actual glass glasses and bottles. This is the norm in Germany. You almost never see disposable drink-ware, or plates at a festival--we were really surprised that one booth had paper plates (as you see in the photo!). The norm is that you will pay a "Pfand" (deposit) for your glassware, bottles, plates, even flatware, and usually get a marker of some sort to prove you did (poker chips, painted rocks, little plastic pieces, etc--it's different at every locations). When you return the used glass (or whatever) with the marker you get your Pfand back. Pfands are normally 2-3 Euro per item. So, it is good to have extra cash on hand for this! Interestingly, in spite of all the alcohol, the many young kids around, etc I have only ever once seen a glass broken at a fest--and it was very quickly cleaned up. This system seems to work really well, and it is much nicer to drink out of a real glass than plastic--not to mention much better for the environment.
Rio had a big party last night, to celebrate school letting out next week, so we were in and out of the fest yesterday between setting up and then supervising the teens.
Yesterday kicked off with the ceremonial tapping of the keg in the afternoon:
Which was followed by the comical pedal go kart races trough town. The first race was between our Burgermeister and the Colonel in charge of the nearby military post (which is closing this year):
There is a large Capri Sonne factory here in town (the original owner was from our town, we are the world headquarters of the little foil pouched drinks LOL) , and they are a bog sponsor of the events, so a comical part of the races (as if adults racing around town on these is not comical enough!) is the mandatory "box stop" in which the driver must drink the entire contents or a Capri Sonne (Capri Sun) before continuing on.
After the pedal cars, there was a break (for food and drinks, of course!) before the main event--the hay wagon races. We headed home to finish party set up and messed up the timing and did not see the teams compete this year. I was pretty disappointing--it is fun and people really get into it and cheer, etc. The races involves teams pushing this heavy wagon full of hay around the city streets:
To make it more difficult, there are 6 "sandpits" that destroy any momentum they get going and make things much harder. You can see one here near the start/finish line:
The teams are generally made up of younger guys. They show up in matching shirts and wear themselves out racing, then party all night. Here is one team surveying the course before yesterday's race, and another enjoying some sort of concoction out of a shared drink bucket after the races were over:
All of the various races have prizes that are announced and handed out later in the evening:
I am not sure how late the fest ran last night. Rio's party ended promptly at 11:00 (this seems to be the time that a typical 14 year old is told to head home here!); we were up until nearly 2:00 and could still hear the music coming from the square. Needless to say, it has been pretty quiet here in town today.
Happy Sunday,
--Hadley
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