Hochheimer Market
The Hochheimer Markt is one of the largest and most traditional autumn markets in Germany.
history
In 1484 Hochheim am Main received from Emperor Friedrich III. the privilege of holding annual fairs, of which only the autumn market has survived to this day. And the originally earlier date for holding it was soon postponed to the first Saturday in Allerseelen , especially considering that the grape harvest and the work in the cellar were only then completed. Because the Hochheimer Markt originally served the rural population of the region, that is, the vast majority, to market the harvest. The market days were therefore characterized by a surge in cattle and horse traders and by a special kind of auctioning of barrel wine , the “fork”. First, the quality of the wine in all barrels was assessed by tasting . If you wanted to bid for the best barrel at the auction, you also had to take the worst. For the second best there was the second worst. And so the auction continued until all the barrels were sold. In this way it was ensured that no one was left with their harvest because of poor quality, which could not always be prevented due to natural influences, but on the other hand there was also no incentive to really work on the wine quality. Eventually this system was also abandoned.
Todays situation
The Hochheimer Markt of our time has developed into a mixture of general goods, amusement and cattle market with an exhibition of agricultural machines and with exhibitions, performance shows and awards in horse, cattle, sheep and goat breeding. According to the old tradition, on market Monday there is still a lift on the cattle market area. The dealers put horses, ponies, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits and poultry for sale. Official veterinarians monitor compliance with animal health regulations and animal welfare .
organization
The market extends over an area of around 65,000 square meters on the open-air site at Am Weiher . The program starts on Friday and ends on Tuesday evening with fireworks. Every year up to 600,000 visitors come to Hochheim on market days. The rush of visitors requires extensive organizational measures. The whole city is largely closed to through traffic. Outside the city, extensive parking zones are being set up in open fields, country roads are declared to be parking zones on one side, shuttle buses transport visitors to and from the market area if they do not, as is traditionally customary, visit the area by the pond on foot. Equally traditional are the difficulties that arise from the often rainy weather of the season. In order to make the site passable and to keep it passable, extensive immediate measures have to be taken almost every year, for example around 40 cubic meters of bark mulch was spread on a single market day in 2009 to keep the site accessible.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ hochheim-feiert.de ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 13, 2013
- ↑ Wiesbadener Kurier of November 10, 2009: Tons of bark mulch against the mud ( Memento of December 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
