OLMA Swiss Exhibition for Agriculture and Food
The OLMA Swiss Fair for Agriculture and Food (until 1945 Eastern Switzerland Agricultural and Dairy Exhibition , 1946–2003 OLMA, Swiss Fair for Agriculture and Dairy Industry ) has been an annual agricultural fair in St. Gallen since 1943 .
history
Two years before that, an agricultural exhibition had already taken place in the city as part of the cultivation battle (1942 in the Schützengarten and 1943 in the Tonhalle ). Soon afterwards, the trade fair acquired great economic importance for the St. Gallen region and beyond. As early as 1946, OLMA was recognized by the Federal Council as a national trade fair.
The fair takes place every autumn in the St. Gallen OLMA exhibition center and lasts eleven days. It begins every year on the Thursday before “ Gallentag ” (October 16), the feast day of St. Gall , the patron saint of St. Gallen. The attractions include the celebratory parade of the guest cantons on Saturday through the city center from the train station to the site, a fair and, in general, the consumption of the OLMA bratwurst , a St. Gallen specialty. Every year a different Swiss canton is the guest of honor and can present itself to the public during the parade and the fair. The Olma is by far the largest public exhibition in Switzerland. The next larger trade fairs are the Basel MUBA and the Bern BEA .
Since 1978 there has been a second public fair in spring, also annually: the OFFA spring and trend fair .
Focus
The fair has grown steadily over the past decades. The focus of the event has shifted significantly. Originally, the OLMA was primarily an agricultural fair at which cattle were presented, awarded and sold and agricultural vehicles were offered, but today it is aimed at a much wider audience. Cows and horses are still part of the exhibition, but everything from lawn mowers to washing machines to mobile phones is available.
Degustation halls
The tasting halls 4 and 5, where exhibitors offer wine and beer for tasting and consumption, are well known. All of the larger breweries and many wine merchants from all over Switzerland are represented.
Fire in hall 7
Until 2000, Hall 7 was the tasting hall. It was so well attended, especially in the evening, that it was very slow to move through the crowd; In addition, the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption became visible in and around them. The hall was built entirely of wood , and the stalls in it were mostly made of wood. There was therefore a great risk of fire . The escape routes were narrow and sometimes winding. There was also a lot of smoking in the hall and St. Gallen sausages were prepared on gas grills . For safety reasons, several firefighters were permanently present in the hall and the requirements for the stand operators were continuously tightened and the escape routes - where possible - widened. However, the accident could not prevent all of this: On the night of October 22nd to 23rd, 2000, a few hours after the conclusion of the 58th Olma, the hall and all its inventory were destroyed by flames. Despite the rapid intervention of the fire brigade - the headquarters of the St. Gallen professional fire brigade is less than a hundred meters away - nothing could be saved. Fortunately, however, it was possible to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring buildings and people and animals were not harmed. The cause of the fire could never be clarified.
regional customs
As a traditionally agriculturally oriented event, customs still have a high priority today . There are regular costume shows , alphorn concerts and yodelling concerts .
Special shows
In addition to the regular exhibitors from the economy, space will be made available for special exhibitions and presentations. Every year there are a number of so-called special shows on a specific topic, such as organic farming, horse breeds or nutrition. In 2006 the Swiss Army was represented with a large exhibition.
statistics
number | year | Visitor 1 | Host canton / region / city / country |
---|---|---|---|
1. OLMA | 1943 | 91,500 | |
8. OLMA | 1950 | Thurgau | |
9. OLMA | 1951 | Schaffhausen | |
10. OLMA | 1952 | 257,000 | Principality of Liechtenstein |
11. OLMA | 1953 | St. Gallen | |
13. OLMA | 1955 | Uri , Schwyz , Nidwalden and Obwalden | |
16. OLMA | 1958 | Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden | |
19. OLMA | 1961 | Glarus | |
20. OLMA | 1962 | 327,000 | Uri , Schwyz , Nidwalden and Obwalden |
22. OLMA | 1964 | Principality of Liechtenstein | |
25. OLMA | 1967 | Vaud | |
27. OLMA | 1969 | Valais | |
28. OLMA | 1970 | Schaffhausen | |
29. OLMA | 1971 | Aargau | |
30. OLMA | 1972 | 401,000 | Thurgau |
31. OLMA | 1973 | 400,000 | Ticino |
32. OLMA | 1974 | 403,000 | Grisons |
33. OLMA | 1975 | 404,000 | Glarus and Free State of Bavaria ( Germany ) |
34. OLMA | 1976 | 415,000 | Zurich |
35. OLMA | 1977 | 414,000 | Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden |
36. OLMA | 1978 | 407,000 | Geneva |
37. OLMA | 1979 | 440,000 | Principality of Liechtenstein |
38. OLMA | 1980 | 435,000 | Uri , Schwyz , Nidwalden and Obwalden |
39. OLMA | 1981 | 435,000 | Schaffhausen |
40. OLMA | 1982 | 452,000 | Basel-City and Basel-Country |
41. OLMA | 1983 | 450,000 | Thurgau |
42. OLMA | 1984 | 426,000 | Bern |
43. OLMA | 1985 | 436,000 | Grisons |
44. OLMA | 1986 | 425,000 | Freiburg |
45. OLMA | 1987 | 430,000 | Glarus and Zug |
46. OLMA | 1988 | 431,000 | Solothurn |
47. OLMA | 1989 | 434,000 | Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden |
48. OLMA | 1990 | 425,000 | Lucerne |
49. OLMA | 1991 | 400,000 | St. Gallen |
50. OLMA | 1992 | 416,000 | Neuchâtel |
51. OLMA | 1993 | 420,000 | Principality of Liechtenstein |
52. OLMA | 1994 | 416,000 | Aargau |
53. OLMA | 1995 | 400,000 | Schaffhausen |
54. OLMA | 1996 | 389,000 | Valais |
55. OLMA | 1997 | 376,000 | Baden-Württemberg ( Germany ) |
56. OLMA | 1998 | 383,000 | Thurgau |
57. OLMA | 1999 | 381,000 | City of St. Gallen |
58. OLMA | 2000 | 398,000 | Zurich |
59. OLMA | 2001 | 357,000 | Expo.02 ( Swiss National Exhibition ) |
60. OLMA | 2002 | 371,000 | Liguria region ( Italy ) |
61. OLMA | 2003 | 385,000 | Grisons |
62. OLMA | 2004 | 384,000 | Ticino |
63. OLMA | 2005 | 371,000 | Geneva |
64. OLMA | 2006 | 398,500 | Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden |
65. OLMA | 2007 | 386,000 | Uri , Schwyz , Nidwalden and Obwalden |
66. OLMA | 2008 | 378,000 | Vaud |
67. OLMA | 2009 | 385,000 | South Tyrol and Trentino ( Italy ) |
68. OLMA | 2010 | 370,000 | Basel-Stadt , Basel-Landschaft and Jura |
69. OLMA | 2011 | 380,000 | Bern |
70. OLMA | 2012 | 390,000 | Zug and Glarus |
71. OLMA | 2013 | 380,000 | Solothurn |
72. OLMA | 2014 | 375,000 | Lucerne |
73. OLMA | 2015 | 375,000 | Aargau |
74. OLMA | 2016 | 365,000 | Principality of Liechtenstein |
75. OLMA | 2017 | 365,000 | Thurgau |
76. OLMA | 2018 | 350,000 | Fête des Vignerons |
77. OLMA | 2019 | 360,000 | Swiss folk culture |
78. OLMA | 2020 | Schaffhausen |
Web links
- OLMA website
- Website of the Olma Messen St. Gallen (organizer)
- Olmapedia - online publication for the 75th anniversary
- OLMA 1943 - 2007 (History of OLMA, PDF file; 4.6 MB) ( Memento from March 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andri Rostetter: Why the Olma will survive. In: St. Galler Tagblatt . Retrieved October 25, 2018 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '55.5 " N , 9 ° 22' 57.6" E ; CH1903: 746,652 / 255291