More than 1000 visitors made the pilgrimage to Brunnthal on Saturday for the Johannifest.
The boys' club spared no effort to put on a successful festival.
Brunnthal
– It was definitely a short night from Saturday to Sunday for Albert Hauser and his 35 helpers.
"My alarm clock goes off at 8 a.m. and then we're busy all day cleaning up the fairgrounds," says the chairman of the Brunnthal boys' association, clearly in a good mood the evening before.
Clean up the next morning, that means:
Dismantle tents, stow away beer benches, clear away rubbish.
On Sunday evening only some charcoal bears witness to the big folk festival on Kirchstockacher Straße.
Albert Hauser has been involved in the boys' association for ten years and now his association is organizing the first Johannifeuer celebration in three years.
The greater the joy.
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Burschen boss Albert Hauser (centre) is proud of the successful party, toasting with two visitors.
© Volker Camehn
Postponed by one day due to weather
In 2019, the popular festival had to be canceled due to all sorts of community safety requirements, then the corona pandemic threw a spanner in the works for the boys.
And this year, too, things did not go entirely smoothly: due to the weather, Hauser and his team decided to light the bonfire a day later to celebrate the solstice and welcome the summer.
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Rush of visitors: the fairground was filled to the last seat.
© Volker Camehn
However, this did not detract from the mood among the “1,200 or so visitors”, as Hauser estimates.
In the evening there was grilled meat, fish on a stick and of course beer and soda specialties.
The folk music sextet Agatharieder Tanzmusi provided a subtle background music.
Meanwhile, numerous children romped around the area in exuberant anticipation of the bonfire, dragged beer benches back and forth and tussled on the fairground.
Finally, at 9:30 p.m., Hauser and two helpers set the huge pile of wood on fire.
At around 11 p.m. the bar opened in the specially built tent...
Wood donated by farmers
"The tent is new this year," explains Albert Hauser.
"We wanted to give the bar a framework, so to speak." The boys spent a good week preparing the fairgrounds for the day, always in the evenings after work.
Whereby, above all, "small things like the electrics can easily cause difficulties," emphasizes Hauser.
"Laying them correctly is extremely time-consuming."
The construction of the pile of wood for the Johanni bonfire naturally required a longer lead time.
"The trees have to be felled in good time, processed and then brought to the fairground," says Albert Hauser.
Wood that comes from the state forest and that is donated by local farmers.
"We have very good contacts there, for which we are also very grateful," emphasizes Hauser.
About 20 stars were piled up for the bonfire.
The fact that he has to get up early tomorrow doesn't let the boy boss spoil his good mood that evening.
"That's just part of it, partying late, getting up early - we have to get through that," he says with a laugh.