Carnival is particularly fun to ride on one of the many cars. The home newspaper has visited some wagon builders.
Landkreis - “Fruits and Veges” is the carnival wagon motto of the Catholic boys' association Bergkirchen this year. For eight weeks, some members of the boys' association, including Thomas Barth, Stefan Umkehrer, Maxe Eberl, Thomas Gasteiger, worked on their car. Now the car is 2.60 meters wide, 3.90 meters high and three meters long. The cost factor is around 400 to 500 euros. “We decide the motto together every year before we start to build and design the car,” says Thomas Barth. The car is parked all year round and during construction on the Barth family's farm in Bibereck. The association has been building a carnival wagon every year for almost 25 years, because: "When we meet to build, we always have a lot of fun and our fellowship is cared for!"
Everyone helps! Michael Glas, Thomas Barth, Stefan Umkehrer, Julian Märkl, Maxe Eberl, Corina Barth, Thomas Gasteiger, Simon Weigl, Ines Barth and Agnes Weller (from left) from Bergkirchen in front of their carnival wagon.
The boys of the association are responsible for the construction and the technology of the car. But the girls of the association also help, they take care of the design and painting of the car. This year, especially Agnes Weller, Corina Barth, Ines Barth and Kathi Umkehrer designed various fruit and vegetable motifs on wooden panels. They then cut them out with the boys and screwed them to the car. Straw mats were then attached under the motifs. With the result: The car looks like a moving basket of fruit and vegetables.
This year, the Catholic lad and Madlverein Hebertshausen are less concerned with food than with the Middle Ages. “Hebertshauser Rittertersleid” is the carnival motto there, confirms the second chairman, Andreas Schott. And since knights need a castle, this year's carnival wagon represents a knight's castle. And that was expensive: Chairman "Schotti" estimates that the material costs for the vehicle's cladding and equipment amount to around 2000 euros. The Hebertshauser Ritterburg will be nine meters long and a full 4.2 meters high. "Madness! We have never been this big, ”he explains proudly.
For five years now, he and his colleagues have been performing their own wagons on carnival parades in the district, with the 24-year-old Schott acting as the main organizer of the carnival wagon. "I take care of the beer kegs and the basic questions of construction, but the whole thing is of course a joint project!" This time it would have taken his boys only five weeks to build the car - another record. But, says Schott smiling: "Practice makes perfect."
For the Hebertshaus boys, carnival is "simply a nice time to be enjoyed as long as it is still possible." With all the editions, you never know "what it will look like next year". What does Schott expect from this year's carnival? Nothing special, he admits with a big smile. However, it will be really exciting next year, because: "I can hardly imagine that this year's car is still topping."
Admire the Bergkirchner Früchtchen and the Hebertshauser Ritter Vierkirchen, Indersdorf and Kammerberg.
BY SOPHIA HEITMEIER
AND TIZIAN RABL