At the State Garden Show 2024 in Kirchheim, the district of Munich and its 29 municipalities have the best opportunity to show what they can do in terms of innovation, energy and climate protection – and that on 145 exhibition days with around half a million visitors. Until then, many flowers will bloom and wither again, but the show is already casting its shadows. In the question of which building, which will be placed in the middle of the colorful landscape, is representative enough to also vividly present its many regional environmental and mobility projects, the large majority of the district building and school committee voted in favor of a wooden pavilion with surrounding gardens – at a price of around half a million euros. That’s a lot of money, considering that hardware stores sell self-assembly pavilions for a fraction of that. But if you want to represent yourself, you should choose an appropriate location that doesn’t make a fool of yourself.
Of course, if you think hard, even better ideas can spring to mind, and Unterhaching’s Mayor Wolfgang Panzer (SPD) has thought hard, and a brilliant flash of thought shot into his head. The result of his brainstorming, which he passionately presented to the rest of the committee: a beer tent would do the trick and could be rented for 50,000 euros. A beer tent? Many in the committee swallowed hard and Neubiberg’s ex-mayor Günter Heyland (free voters), after emphasizing the importance of the state garden show for the district, summed up his discomfort in a short sentence: “A beer tent is not the right setting for that.” But it is the same with beer tents as with pavilions – there are such and such, and anyone who has ever sat in a beer tent at the Wiesn, a mass with a wonderful flower on top in front of them and countless hop garlands and flower balconies around it, must Heyland contradict.
Of course, a beer tent is suitable for a state horticultural show if you don’t serve beer in it, but only serve the guests floral things and offer them topics such as innovation, energy and climate protection for dessert instead of steamed dumplings with vanilla sauce. And since the state horticultural show is open until October, visitors can even go to the Wiesn towards the end.