The Maypole friends from Haar have a strong sense of order. That’s reassuring to know. After all, they have managed to reliably erect the tree, weighing several tons, in front of the “Zur Post” inn seven times. But now a dispute has broken out because, especially from the perspective of the SPD, the guardians of local customs have created a very tidy little piece of the world at their clubhouse, which looks as if others in the community should be excluded. What is meant by this becomes apparent when, as a curious visitor, you approach the clubhouse in the dark. Suddenly you find yourself in the bright cone of light. A motion detector is installed. A sign even indicates video surveillance.
In the municipal council, Peter Schiessl (SPD) complained that the maypole friends had not taken the regulations very seriously when setting up their garden shed. The former mayor Gabriele Müller (SPD) – Schiessl’s wife – had given them the run-down, 2000 square meter property. The maypole friends created order, erected a knee-high fence, laid out a rock garden and placed thuja trees in tubs on it with exact spacing. A building permit would of course have been required for the garden shed. This is a “black building,” Schiessl complained in unison with parliamentary colleague Peter Paul Gantzer. When Mayor Andreas Bukowski (CSU) described this as “petitesse”, the SPD accused him of downplaying the matter.
Maypole vigil in Haar in 2016: what does a maypole friends association do when no maypole has been erected for years?
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
But Gantzer and Schiessl were also concerned with something else. It bothers her that the property is cordoned off, which is like an alternative to the adjacent so-called park wilderness, where families with children have created an adventure playground without right angles, in which children roam through the undergrowth. Schiessl and Gantzer did not insist that the maypole friends should relax in order to shape their world differently. But they should open their property, they demanded. The association has hardly taken any action in the past five years, said Gantzer. He only counts a few members and takes up a lot of space just for himself. Peter Schiessl said: “Every club that has received something has a duty to share.” The site should also be open to others.
The discussion came to a head. After all, it was about Bavarian customs. Dietrich Keymer (CSU) was also slightly amused when he stated that the CSU was defending former SPD mayor Müller for awarding the property, and that against her own husband Peter Schiessl. Werner Schwarz, chairman of the Maibaumfreunde, has meanwhile calmly accepted the allegations of the SPD. When asked, he conceded that one is rarely active because one only puts up a maypole every five years – as is the custom in Bavaria. The association needs new members and is outdated. And for some in the club, the club grounds themselves are too tidy. Incidentally, the video surveillance, said Schwarz, was just a dummy. “We are an open house.”