Roonkarker Mart

Paper flower carts during the market parade

The Roonkarker Mart ( Low German for Rodenkirchener Markt) is a fair in the village of Rodenkirchen (municipality of Stadland , Lower Saxony ).

It is the largest and oldest fair in the Wesermarsch district and is known beyond the district's borders. The market is filled with around 200 showmen and sellers each year , including 13 large rides .

history

The origin of the Roonkarker Mart is not exactly known. It is believed that a parish fair was the origin for this market. At such a festival, there is said to have been a stuff and cattle market, which took place right at the Rodenkirchen church until the 18th century , before it moved to the market square, where it still takes place today.

The 800th Roonkarker Mart was celebrated in 1933 - but there is no concrete evidence that this is actually true. Rather, the church was apparently founded in 1131 (also not documented) and the time of the First World War , in which the market failed, was taken into account. This counting method has been kept to this day, so that the 883rd Roonkarker Mart will officially be celebrated in 2016. In 2018 the market had over 200,000 visitors.

Termination

The Roonkarker Mart takes place every year at the end of September from Saturday to Tuesday. The exact date depends on Michaelmas day (September 29th), whereby the market Monday is always directly before this day. If Michaelmas day falls on a Monday, the market will be brought forward by one week accordingly. As a simpler rule of thumb, the Wednesday after the market is always the last Wednesday in September.

Unofficially, Friday evening (Thursday evening in 2014 and 2015), the so-called “Christmas Eve”, is considered part of the market, even if there is no actual market operation, but only celebrated in the market hall and in the surrounding restaurants.

procedure

Every year there are the following program items during the market days:

"Christmas Eve"

The "Longir-Halle" (market hall)

On the Friday evening before the market, the annual showmen meeting takes place in the market hall of Rodenkirchen, at which not only the showmen but also representatives of the community and invited guests are present. Later in the evening, the hall opens to the general public and the “market hit” of the respective year is chosen by the visitors of this event at a discover event. This event is popularly known as "Christmas Eve".

Market Friday (2014 and 2015)

In 2014 and 2015, the booths and rides were already open on Friday from 3 p.m. before the official market opening on Saturday. Since some showmen indicated that they would stay away from the market if it continued to start on Friday and the extension of the market by one day did not generate any additional income but higher costs, market Friday was abolished again in 2016.

Pageant

Rose car of the Achterdorp Citizens' Association

On the Saturday of the market at 2:15 p.m., a parade takes place in the village, in which decorated festival floats and harvest floats, foot groups and music trains take part. The elaborate rose wagons are a tradition here, which were made from paper roses in a lengthy process by associations from the town and the surrounding area. It is not uncommon to see one or two rose wagons on the parades of the Oldenburg Kramermarkt or the Bremen Freimarkt .

This move took place for the first time in 1958, when it was brought into being by Heinrich Ficke, the then Rodenkircher community director, in order to give Roonkarker Mart a glamorous and popular start. The reason was the fact that the Roonkarker Mart 1958 started for the first time on a Saturday.

While the parade was initially only made up of musical parades and groups of feet, the first decorated floats of the local clubs soon joined them. After these were also awarded by the community, the attractiveness of the move increased steadily due to ever larger and more complex wagons.

Traditionally, the parade is led by three riders from the Rodenkirchen riding and driving club and the two older of the town's three music trains.

In 2006 the parade with more than 60 festival and harvest floats, eight music parades and various foot groups set a new record for participants and was more than two kilometers long.

Market opening

Although the market is open from 2 p.m., the official opening of the market by the mayor of Stadland will not take place until after the parade (around 4 p.m.) on the Rodenkirchen station forecourt, which is in the middle of the market square. After a speech by the mayor, three gunshots and several balloons rising, the market is officially open.

Pig's head auction

On Monday morning there will be a morning pint on the market square with the American auction of a pig's head.

While originally pig heads were actually auctioned, it is now a completely dismantled pig. Furthermore, a barrel of free beer donated by the community and the showmen is tapped and served by the mayor . The proceeds from the auction are intended for the elderly afternoon.

Elderly afternoon

On Monday afternoon, the so-called elderly afternoon takes place in the market hall for the seniors of the community. The coffee table with the program (usually vocal performances) is free for Stadland seniors, as is their journey by bus. The senior citizens' afternoon is financed by the proceeds from the pig's head auction, as well as by the showmen's association and the Stadland community.

This event took place for the first time in 1969 on the initiative of the then chairman of the Schaustellerverein Wilhelm Weghorst and has been an integral part of the market ever since.

Fireworks

On Tuesday evening, Roonkarker Mart ends with a fireworks display . During the fireworks, the showmen are asked to stop the sound of their shops.

In 2001, the large fireworks were canceled due to the terrorist attacks on September 11th on the World Trade Center in New York , which caused displeasure among many showmen and visitors. In fact, this fact made itself felt in the significantly lower number of visitors on Tuesday evening.

The largest Altbierbowle festival

The market is also known as the supposedly largest Altbierbowle festival in the world. While this claim cannot be proven, the showmen agree that there is hardly any other festival where this drink made from Altbier, strawberries and strawberry syrup is consumed as often as at Roonkarker Mart.