The beer will flow. In this respect, you can look forward to the anniversary Oktoberfest in May next year in the Unterschleißheim town hall, when the 70th Lohhofer Volksfest is coming up. With the decision for landlady Angelika Fontenot and the Augustiner brewery, the important decision was made recently as to who fills the beer mugs and puts the roast chicken on the table. But for a really successful party, you need a lot more. Without adequate electricity and water and for the many guests who eat and drink vigorously and without a functioning sewage system, it becomes difficult. And this infrastructure is still lacking on the Volksfestplatz.
The folk festival on the Munich Ring only runs ten days a year. But the demands on technology and supply network are high. The building authority took a closer look: it has long been established that some things are only partially intact and that there is therefore a need for action. The folk festival was canceled twice because of the corona pandemic. The test center and also the vaccination center occupied the space. A circus also camped for a long time. It wasn’t that noticeable then. But now in the spring of 2022, when the festival was relaunched, you had to improvise a lot.
A representative of the building authority told the city council’s building committee that the water supply pipes in the Budenstrasse were too close to the drainpipes. The channel is leaking in the front area towards the Munich Ring. The drain could only be guaranteed with the help of flushing. There are no longer any spare parts for some of the lowerable security bollards at the main entrance. Because they sometimes lift themselves, the underbody of vehicles has already been damaged. A power line across the square is broken and the power supply in the east of the area is restricted. Heidi Schiedermeier from the department of folk festivals reported that at the moment only one larger ride could be set up and no power-intensive uses could be made possible in the rear area of the fairground.
But as important as Mayor Christoph Böck (SPD) and the city councilors are to their folk festival because of the anniversary in 2023: the promise to start with the conversions immediately was difficult in view of the projected costs. Because they amount to at least 200,000 euros, if all wishes were fulfilled, even significantly more. Böck said a key question is whether you really need a second big ride on the fly. His party colleague Thomas Breitenstein referred to the associated energy consumption and said: “I don’t see that that was missed.” Martin Reichart (Freie Bürgerschaft) expressed massive concerns, especially because of the expensive bollards, the purchase of which had been intensively discussed years ago. He advertised a barrier or a gate.
The bollards and the sewer, which is still largely functional, will now be tackled later. Likewise, the full expansion of the power supply. However, 200,000 euros are to be made available in the short term for 2023.