Main agricultural festival
The main agricultural festival is a festival associated with an exhibition that is celebrated every four years on the Cannstatter Wasen . The 100th Main Agricultural Festival took place from September 29 to October 7, 2018.
history
In the early 19th century, Württemberg suffered from high prices and famine due to natural disasters. In addition, foreign troops were regularly supplied with grain, which exacerbated the need in the country. The situation was particularly critical in 1811, 1815 and 1816, the year without a summer .
After Wilhelm I took office on October 30, 1816, he began to promote agriculture in Württemberg in order to master the grievances. As early as November 1816, he reorganized the grain trade. The state bought grain from abroad and resold it domestically at cheaper prices. In the summer of 1817 an inventory of all supplies was carried out. In the same year, a charity for the needy was set up, as was the voluntary relief fund. The peasants in Württemberg were relieved by various royal edicts: personal serfdom was abolished without compensation, inheritance became free interest goods, feudal payments were replaced. An educational institution for young farmers was established on the Denkendorf . On June 30, 1817, the Central Office of the Agricultural Association was founded. It was supposed to act as a higher state authority for the agricultural associations and to be the sponsor and organizer of an agricultural festival. One of the first associations to be founded was the association for the revitalization and expansion of the agricultural industry. Most of the time it was just referred to as an "agricultural association". Prizes were donated for the best products of the state cattle breeding. The agricultural festival in Cannstatt was also donated.
In 1818, the Württembergische Sparkasse was founded and the State Commission for the Poor was established. On March 25, 1818, the award tasks of the Central Office of the Agricultural Association were announced. Queen Katharina set up a foundation which was to be used to finance future industrial and cultural prizes for technical-mechanical, technical-chemical and agricultural innovations. On May 26th, 1818 it was announced that in future an agricultural festival would be held every year on September 28th, with awards for cattle, horse races, a cattle market and a folk festival. In July 1818, Queen Katharina donated two prizes to promote the cultivation of fruit trees. A few weeks later it was announced that the Agricultural Institute would be set up on the Hohenheim domain , which would be run as an experimental and teaching institute. Johann Nepomuk Schwerz opened this institute on November 20, 1818. The facility became an academy in 1847 and an agricultural college in 1904. In 1967 she was raised to the rank of university . The professors at the Agricultural Institute also worked in the Agricultural Association, wrote on its correspondence sheet and also took part in the implementation of the main agricultural festival.
About 30,000 visitors came to the first main agricultural festival on September 28, 1818. Presumably from 1837 there were also marquees at the festival. The first innkeeper to set up such a thing was probably the Cannstatter Ochsenwirt. In addition to wine, this Herr Kübler also offered Ulm lager beer in his tent.
In 1841 the 25th anniversary of Wilhelm I's government was celebrated, including a special pageant. The so-called golden plow could be seen at the exhibition of Hohenheim plows at the main agricultural festival. From 1846, the festival visitors could with the railway arriving. They have been celebrating for three days now.
In 1851 the festival fell victim to a flood. After the tents were swept away, the party had to be canceled. In 1857 the so-called imperial meeting took place at the festival. Napoleon III , King Wilhelm I and Tsar Alexander II met on the Cannstatter Wasen.
Ferdinand von Steinbeis introduced an innovation in 1858: a progress exhibition was shown in the Kursaal parallel to the festival. This was the beginning of the Württemberg processing industry. A few years later, in 1860, the Mannheim tractor factory Lanz presented its products in the Kursaal. In the following year the 80th birthday of the king was celebrated, in 1862 the exhibitors and traders were able to transport their cattle for free by rail and in 1869 a machine exhibition was shown at the festival. The Central Office of the Agricultural Association organized an exhibition in the Great Kursaal in 1877, which took place parallel to the festival, in 1878 the festival was supplemented by a state cattle exhibition, and in 1880 by a fruit growing exhibition. In the late 19th century, the main agricultural festival began to be separated from the Cannstatter Volksfest . In 1890 there was only a three-day folk festival combined with a district cattle exhibition. In 1903 there was a special exhibition on the subject of "Agricultural Construction".
After Cannstatt was incorporated into Stuttgart in 1905 , the fairground could be improved. Since there was an agricultural exhibition in Munich that year , only one military carrier pigeon exhibition was organized. In 1907 the festival was enlarged and various horse races were organized in different classes. In 1908 the festival was combined with the touring exhibition of the German Agricultural Society. In 1911, after a break of several years, a peasant race and a gallop race for heavy utility horses took place again. 150 years of haulage were celebrated in a corso. The last main festival and folk festival of the Kingdom of Württemberg took place in 1913.
After a break of several years due to the war, a folk festival was celebrated again in 1924. The agricultural exhibition was of limited size; A show garden of the tree nursery owners in Württemberg was presented. In 1925 the festival was merged again with the DLG touring exhibition and in 1927 a folk festival parade was held, which was described as the first "real" one. In 1930 the motto of the agricultural exhibition was “Fight for the sales market”, while the festival was under the motto “Forget your worries”. In addition to the industrial and commercial exhibition, a state milk show was also held.
The sausage roasters that were guests on the festival square in 1931 were considered a sign of need. In addition to a horse show, an allegedly 500 year old giant crocodile with 30 live cubs was put on display this year. In the following year a groomed whale and a six-legged calf were shown, alleged ogre-eaters were also to be seen on the Wasen and a living gentleman was supposed to be turned into a living rooster.
In the post-war period tournaments were held as part of the festival, for example a riding and driving tournament in 1952 and a riding and jumping tournament in 1953. A real main agricultural festival was only held again in 1954 after the Second World War . In 1957, a confusing diversity of the products on display was already praised, in 1959 Lord Mayor Arnulf Klett opened the festival, at which the Württemberg riding championships were also held, with the declaration that the Cannstatter Volksfest was the “categorical imperative of joy” and that the Wasen was “the navel of the world". In 1960, Theodor Heuss appeared as a guest of honor at the main agricultural festival, which in turn hosted a riding and driving tournament. In 1963, the European Economic Community was the theme of the main festival and a bike race for the grand prize of the main agricultural festival was organized. The "1000-year-old Wengerter" exhibition in 1964 was visited by guests of honor Fritz Ulrich and Emilie Daimler. From 1965 onwards, the main agricultural festival was to be celebrated every three years, but a large agricultural trade exhibition should be associated with it. In 1968 not only bulls and boars but also horses were auctioned at the festival. The 150th anniversary of the Cannstatter Volksfest was celebrated. In 1971 the consumer advice center carried out the “Full beer mug” campaign at the festival. Again young bulls and boars were auctioned. The festival in 1974 was canceled, and it was not celebrated again until 1977, this time in connection with the meeting of the European Association of Fleckvieh breeders. From 1980 the program of the festival was organized according to the main days. This year the bull parade was also included in the program. From 1983 the lists of winners for the competitions were compiled with EDP. In 1986, 220,000 visitors were counted at the main agricultural festival. The country's farmers were not only represented in the motto of the festival in 1986, but also at the subsequent festivals. In 1992, 40 years of Baden-Württemberg was celebrated with a special cattle show, and in 1995 an exhibition was held in the Cannstatter Stadtmuseum with the title The public festival in advertising since it was founded in 1818 . This year's main agricultural festival broke previous records with 244,000. King Wilhelm I and his wife Katharina were honored with a wreath-laying ceremony.
In 2010 there was a special exhibition on the subject of "Renewable Energies" and a "Special Horse Show" as part of the main agricultural festival. In 2014 a so-called innovation stable was shown; That the main and state stud Marbach celebrated its 500th anniversary this year was particularly reflected in the show program. In 2018, some of the Marbach horses and riders performed jointly with a police team.
Web links
- Klaus Weber, Zur Geschichte - the main agricultural festival from 1818 through the ages on www.lwh-stuttgart.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ History at www.lwh-suttgart.de