OLMA Swiss Exhibition for Agriculture and Food

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OLMA halls

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

OLMA sausages

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
1 Up until the end of the 1990s, a season ticket was equated with 11 entries, since then the effective entries have been counted.

Web links

Commons : OLMA  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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