Despite the higher organizational effort due to the Corona requirements, numerous children’s flea markets and bazaars are again being held in the district. It starts again in the Zwergerlstube in Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn on Saturday, October 9th. The children’s flea market usually takes place in the facility with parent-child groups and play groups twice a year, in March and October, but it had to be canceled in 2020 and spring 2021. Organizer Britta Werhahn is all the happier that the regulations are now open to the market again.
It is a legal requirement to wear protective masks indoors and to apply the 3G rule. The number of visitors is also limited. 80 people are allowed into the dwarf parlor at the same time, children count. However, you do not have to buy a ticket in advance. “We decided against the ticket option because we can’t foresee how long the visitors will stay in the bazaar,” explains Werhahn, who works as a social worker at the facility. Some stayed only five minutes, others an hour. In order to avoid waiting times, the bazaar will be open for buyers two hours longer than usual, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
This means more effort for the organizers: They are already in the dwarf parlor on Friday, receiving and sorting the goods. On Sunday, the leftover parts have to be sorted back before the sellers pick up their goods and money in the afternoon. Nevertheless, Werhahn did not have to think long about whether the flea market would be back: “We had organized an online dwarf flea market, but we received a lot of feedback that parents were sinking into other clothes and toys.” So far, the circulation has been so high that a flea market has not been possible. But now the bazaar can take place again almost to the usual extent. The only thing that has to be done this year is the sale of cakes and salads.
The flea market of the Floriansanger kindergarten in Neubiberg was moved outside in order to guarantee the minimum distance. This eliminates the 3G rule, but the mask requirement still applies. “It was always very cramped inside. It was clear to us that there was no avoiding moving the bazaar outside,” explains organizer Ursula Reiser from the kindergarten’s parents’ council.
The flea market for children will also take place on Saturday, October 9th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, should it rain, it will be postponed for a week to Saturday, October 16. You don’t have to buy tickets in advance here either. Instead, there is an entrance fee of one euro, which is waived after 12.30 p.m. “We hope that people will spread out more and not all come at the beginning,” says Reiser. It should be an additional incentive to avoid peak hours. In addition, the sales time is one hour longer than in other years.
But the organizational effort was not only greater than usual because of the Corona regulations. The kindergarten’s parents’ team is still inexperienced. The parents who last organized the markets have left kindergarten. The planning was therefore completely new for the organizers. “We absolutely want to bring the kindergarten back to life,” says Reiser resolutely. In addition, there are quite a few parents who are dependent on being able to buy children’s things cheaply.
The Garching neighborhood help organizes its big autumn bazaar on Tuesday, October 12th, in the community center. It opens for customers from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 4.30 p.m. to 6 p.m., with pregnant women being admitted half an hour earlier in the afternoon, according to press officer Katherine Hepperle-Parker. Mask requirements and the 3G rule also apply here, backpacks, large handbags and strollers are not allowed in the sales area. Because only 80 people are allowed in the room, visitors are asked to use the side entrance and form a queue outside.