Miesbach weekly market: Two veterans are retiring after decades

Created: 07/28/2022, 06:00

By: Sebastian Grauvogl

The customers will miss them: Max and Christine Wagner at their egg and poultry stand at the Miesbach weekly market.

They will be there for the last time on Thursday, July 28th.

© Florian Bachmeier

Max and Christine Wagner missed the weekly market in Miesbach exactly twice.

For decades they have been delighting customers with eggs, poultry and co. Now they are retiring.

Miesbach

– A red and white striped umbrella, a couple of wooden trestles and an old tabletop: that's all the Wagners need for their stand at the Miesbach weekly market.

Early in the morning they stock it with pallets of eggs, poultry and game.

Talking to customers is at least as important to them as the freshness and regional origin of their goods.

Because the queue can't be so long that Max Wagner (65) and his wife Christine (66) don't have time for a chat.

"We learned a lot from the people," says Max Wagner.

Of love and family happiness, but also of illness and grief.

But they never questioned their customers, emphasizes Wagner.

Only if older people suddenly stopped coming to fetch eggs from one week to the next.

"Then we asked others if they knew anything." The answer was often a sad one.

The customers are also sad about the farewell

A few tears have also flowed down the cheeks of one or the other regular customer of the Wagners in the past few weeks.

Because on Thursday, July 28th, it is time for the Wagners themselves to say goodbye.

After decades at the Miesbach weekly market, the couple from Tittmoning are going into well-deserved retirement.

With bouquets of flowers and lots of good wishes, the Miesbachers show how much they have become dear to their hearts.

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But not only for the district town, but also for the Wagners themselves, an era ends.

Because the market business is deeply rooted in her family.

Max Wagner's grandfather bought eggs and fruit from farmers, and his father and uncle used them to supply hotels, inns and shops in the Miesbach district.

Because his grandmother's sister lived in a house in the Miesbacher Marktwinkl, the Wagners opened a garage sale here on the days of the weekly market.

Because it went so well that customers marched there in caravans from the market, a representative from the town hall knocked on the door and asked if the Wagners wouldn't rather set up their stand in front of everyone else.

"So we didn't even have to apply, we were simply asked," says Max Wagner.

Be it heat or cold: the Wagners were always there

They thanked the Miesbachers with a consistency that only very few dealers can show.

Whether it was scorching heat or freezing cold: the Wagners were always there, they didn't know about holidays.

They had to pass exactly twice in all the decades, Max Wagner remembers: "Once we had Corona, and once I fell off the ladder at home."

The customers appreciated this loyalty - and also bought regularly from the Wagners.

Undisputed bestseller: the eggs.

Four different sizes were ready in the boxes: S (less than 53 grams), M (53 to 63 grams), L (63 to 73 grams) and XL (more than 73 grams).

The preferences of the Miesbachers were just as varied: some bought crates of eggs for the catering trade, some only six pieces for the cake.

And even individually, the oval delicacies occasionally went over the trestle table, says Wagner.

"When someone went on vacation the next day and wanted a snack egg the night before."

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In general, the market business has gone well over the years, says Wagner.

Corona has even made regional shopping in the open air even more popular.

The Wagners could even have sold their umbrella in their last days in Miesbach.

Many a person would have liked to have secured the nostalgic sunshade as a souvenir, says Max Wagner and laughs.

He was even asked to be a film prop.

But the "Eiermo" remained steadfast - like his umbrella over the years.

When the Wagners dismantle their market stall for the last time, they will pack it up and take it home.

Maybe he'll be used there again, says Wagner: "But only in the garden."

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