Lights of a balmy summer night
"Wait, don’t move or I’ll never find you in this crowd!" Peter donath, chairman of the fruit and horticulture association, stands in the middle of the village square and talks to a helper. Around him are probably a thousand or more visitors. Peter donath orders another good portion of sausage from his local butcher with his cell phone on his ear.
Although the clock only shows shortly after 8 p.M., the bratwursts are already sold out. By then, 65 kilograms of cheese and ten kilos of salmon substitutes (for salmon sandwiches), more than 600 pairs of sausages, 300 steaks and 16 whole salt bellies had already been sold. The sold cakes and pies were not even paid by the hard-working helpers of the garden friends and the volunteer fire department.
Seats were not enough
Since 8 o’clock in the morning most of the helpers are in constant use on this day. They have set up 95 beer sets and many, many stand tables. Nevertheless, the places are not enough: the rush of visitors to the village festival this year is even coarser than in all the years before. The guests look for themselves cozy little places on the banks of the two brooks, sit on the bridges, or have simply made themselves comfortable in the grass in the most wonderful summer weather.
Surprised by great atmosphere
Stefan and manuela seelmann from reundorf are here for the first time. They carpooled with friends – and that was a good thing: "we were totally surprised, positively surprised, to see so many people!", amazes manuela. For lack of a real table, the seelmanns have chosen a pack of bricks to set down their food – bread, aperol and the draught beer taste good standing up too.
About 20.30 o’clock start the helpers in the green T-shirts with the imprint "fest-team to light up the lights, candles, lanterns and torches. Fire bowls put the lauterbach in a romantic mood, the glow of the many floating candles is reflected in the quiet, dammed muhlbach. Powerful LED spotlights, which the team of fire department commander johannes uhmann and horticultural society chairman peter donath had positioned days before, put the half-timbered houses and already decorated properties in the right light.
Driveways blocked
Parking lots are sufficiently designated – for example the rough hiking parking lot and some meadows at the edge of the village that are easy to drive on. The village street is marked as a one-way street. Nevertheless, quite a few visitors park their cars directly in front of or against driveways, park directly in curves or in narrow places. Some therefore receive very personal, anonymous love letters on their windshields.
All in all, the organizers are satisfied. Peter donath: "all peaceful, all good, all nice people."
