Corona has also changed the forest.

At least that part of the city forest that is actually occupied every year at Pentecost by the Forest Day.

"Because of the Corona break, the trees grew more than usual between the festivals," says Christian Müller.

For the event manager of Tourismus+Congress GmbH (information on the Wäldchestag), the unbridled growth has made the preparations for the five-century-old folk festival more difficult.

"It's not a fairground anyway, where everything is straight.

But now we had to plan even more carefully so that there is space for every stand without damaging the forest.”

Daniel Meuren

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

The total of 120 rides or catering stands are ultimately accommodated over a total distance of 1.6 kilometers along the paths officially named for the festive season, including for postal purposes, such as the Karussellstraße, so that from Saturday to the actual forest day on Tuesday from 12 p.m. until after midnight under the trees to country or disco music.

“Something special that I look forward to every time”

Even the Ferris wheel, in which gondolas drive through the treetops at a height of 45 meters, which is unique in Germany, has found a gap.

"It's something special that I look forward to every time," says Sebastian Willenborg, who comes from a Munich Ferris wheel dynasty.

“Anyone can build on an even pitch.

It's all about millimeters here to get the gondolas through the trees.”

A nostalgic attraction takes up significantly less space: the Dietesheimer Schiffschaukel association has set up its model from 1949, with which even rollovers are possible.

Club chairman Nick Zortea spontaneously demonstrated this art.

"Once you're up there, it's like weightlessness," he said after returning to the forest floor.

Brave people, secured with belts, can try their luck until Tuesday.

For companies that, in line with the centuries-old tradition, give their employees "free forest days", the showmen have an attractive bonus up their sleeve: the first 20 company groups can look forward to a 50 percent discount on the rides.

There are also certificates for the self-confessed “conservators of tradition”.

Incidentally, the normal prices remain largely at the level of 2019, although the current crises are also affecting the showmen.

"We are all burdened with a good 30 percent more costs, but we don't want to pass that on to the public because people are all burdened too.

We hope to be able to compensate for this with a large audience," says Thomas Roie, Chairman of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Showmen's Association.

The roller coaster ride, and not only on the Feuer & Eis track on the Wäldchestag,