It is a tight-knit community in traditional costume that meets year after year, always on the first Monday of Oktoberfest, to shoot crossbows. The BMW branch in Munich traditionally invites people, and its boss Bernd Döpke doesn’t experiment much when it comes to the guest list. The folk musicians Marianne and Michael, actors like Timothy Peach and actresses like Mariella Ahrens, Jutta Speidel and Michaela May are practically part of the regular cast. Sometimes a minister comes along, sometimes a cabaret artist is invited to perform, like Django Asül on Monday.
Django Asül with Peter Inselkammer in the crossbow tent.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
The BMW crossbow shooting is generally regarded as something of a celebrity event in traditional costume. But in order to adapt to changing viewing habits, the needs of social media and their protagonists, namely influencers who not everyone recognizes right away, the organizers have refined the procedure: the guest lists at the entrance are now provided with photos, so they can be identified Even those who don’t know that they are sitting at the dressed-up beer table next to the choreographer Tiger Kirchharz, the model Darya Birnstiel or the singer Joelina Drews.
Mike Kraus, a photographer, musician and artist – also the son of singer and actor Peter Kraus – has been there for many years. Why is he always invited? “I don’t know,” laughs the Munich native. In any case, he likes to go crossbow shooting “because it makes you feel like Robin Hood, the protector of the poor and avenger of the disinherited.”
Always there: the actresses Michaela May (right) and Jutta Speidel.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
In the shooting hall in Peter and Katharina Inselkammer’s crossbow rifle tent, not so poor BMW customers gathered that evening to enjoy suckling pig, ox loin and steamed dumplings. The stupid thing, says Mike Kraus, is that you always have to aim with “a measure in mind.” With a crossbow weighing a good six kilograms and a distance of ten meters, it’s a real challenge. Nevertheless, there were shooting kings and queens, including fashion influencer Olga Löffler, who can look forward to the next round of the table. She received a meal voucher for six people at the Augustiner Klosterwirt.