Rush of visitors at the Gmunder Volksfest: the innkeeper even ran out of chicken

Created: 05/17/2022, 07:00

By: Gerti Reichl

There was something else here: Because there were more hungry visitors than expected, the chickens ran out in the Gmund beer tent on Sunday evening.

© Thomas Plettenberg

Festwirt Christian Fahrenschon had not expected such a rush to the Gmunder Volksfest: on Sunday evening he even ran out of chicken.

It was the start of a chain reaction.

Gmund

– Yes, he hoped that people would switch back to “normal mode” after the Corona period, that they would come to the beer tent in large numbers and from Thursday to Monday lots of music, crispy chicken, a tasty beer and after a two-year Corona compulsory break simply enjoy the folk festival atmosphere again.

Christian Fahrenschon (58), landlord in Gmund, never dreamed that he would actually be overrun to such an extent.

From the opening evening on Thursday, the visitors poured in, the around 1500 seats were quickly occupied by locals and guests and the atmosphere was so great that people even danced on the benches.

The same picture on Friday and Saturday, where the party went off in the evening with the Cagey Strings.

Volksfest Gmund: The calculated amount of chicken was not enough

On Sunday the stream of visitors really picked up speed again, so that even the food ran out in the evening.

That meant, among other things: no more chicken, no suckling pig, no salad to go with the roast.

“Around 8 p.m. there was actually no more chicken,” Fahrenschon has to admit, but has several explanations: “The lunchtime business was going so well that the amount of chicken we calculated was simply not enough.” On a “normal” Sunday, that is the landlord, he counts on about 800 portions of chicken.

But at this folk festival, the hungry guests would have eaten up to 1200 portions.

Festwirt Christian Fahrenschon (right), here with Mayor Alfons Besel at the opening of the folk festival, explains how the chicken bottleneck could have happened.

© Thomas Plettenberg

Reordering frozen chickens was out of the question

"And when the chicken is gone, that triggers a chain reaction." In other words: there was little left over from a number of other dishes.

In the case of Hendl, repeat orders were not possible, explains Fahrenschon.

"We only use fresh chicken on the grill," says the host.

However, his supplier from Lower Bavaria cannot always slaughter or deliver.

"On Thursday we calculated the required amount of chicken and ordered it according to our forecasts." As I said, he couldn't plan that there were 25 percent more visitors on Friday and Saturday.

Ordering frozen chicken from a butcher at short notice was out of the question for him.

"Basically not, and besides, they wouldn't have thawed out on Sunday."

Rush in the beer tent: waitresses couldn't keep up

The fact that half of the tent was filled with new guests in the evening also contributed to the chicken mishap on Sunday.

That is usually never the case.

In Gmund it was: The Tegernseer Tanzlmusi played from 6 p.m. and invited visitors to dance.

Which of course made the landlord happy.

Some guests grumbled not only because of the chicken misery, but also because of the waitresses who couldn't keep up.

Between 26 and 30 waitresses brought food and drinks, for many, according to Fahrenschon, it was the first time they had been to a beer tent since 2019.

Festwirt thanks guests: sociability still works

Fahrenschon asks the guests for their understanding afterwards because of the bottlenecks.

On the other hand, he thanks them for the fact that the folk festival was so well received.

On Monday, there was also the senior citizens' afternoon - with freshly slaughtered and delivered chicken - as well as the traditional Kesselfleisch meal in the program and ended with the Gmund brass band.

The "overwhelming interest" shows that conviviality and culture still work, "especially among young people," says Fahrenschon, with a view to the appearance of the new generation of traditional costumes on Sunday.

He drew his conclusions even before the official end: Maybe he will think about a return to the previous mode with two festival weekends with the community - then hopefully with full tent days again, but without a chicken bottleneck.

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