There was a great desire for a folk festival, and even the sudden onset of winter couldn’t dampen it: Thousands of visitors came to Wels at the weekend to find out more, celebrate, dine and have fun. “The marquee and the wine tasting were filled to the last seat,” says trade fair director Robert Schneider.
The organizers are satisfied, even if there were about a third fewer visitors. “We expected that, the fair is a bit smaller this year. Due to the Covid situation, we had less time for planning, everything was at shorter notice than usual,” says the fair director. In addition, there are the particularly bad weather conditions with snowfall and cold. “I’ve never experienced anything like this at a folk festival, continuous snowfall,” Schneider marvels.
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“Great Mood”
But that didn’t bother the youth at all. True to the motto: There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, they came in droves to the marquee in dirndls, lederhosen and anoraks to finally celebrate together again. And they did, from Thursday to Sunday.
The starting gun was fired when the test lighting was switched on and the beer tapped on Thursday evening, and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon the partying continued in the marquee. “The atmosphere was particularly good this year, everyone was happy across the board that they could finally go to a folk festival again. It was all peaceful. I’ve rarely seen so much joy, it was wonderful,” enthuses Schneider.
Not only in the tent, but also in the amusement park there was activity on Saturday and Sunday despite the snowfall. The built-up rides were tried out by the die-hards. “The visitors didn’t let the cold temperatures and the snowfall stop them all weekend long,” says the Wels trade fair director happily. (male)
Enjoyed spring in the exhibition halls
The trade fair for gardens, holidays and camping was also well attended: while the snow was gently falling outside, there was a spring mood in the Wels exhibition halls: beautiful show gardens, plants and plant rarities, expert lectures and decorations for the garden, balcony and terrace were set up. The visitors came in droves, even if this year’s fair was a bit smaller than usual. This was due to the short-term nature of the event, because the pandemic has thrown the organizers’ plans upside down often enough in the past two years.
In the end, it was not only the longing for spring that lured visitors to the Wels exhibition halls, but also wanderlust: they were also invited to the popular holiday fair, where visitors could find out about travel and leisure offers in Austria and neighboring countries for all types of travellers. Camping was also an issue. The OÖ Nachrichten was also represented at the Welser Messe with its own stand.
Source: Nachrichten
