Schenkenfelden paves the way for its own inn

Even the place name comes from an inn: after all, Schenkenfelden comes from a tavern in the field. The desire for their own inn in the town center is correspondingly great. That’s why a core team of 30 took the next step towards implementing a guesthouse. The board of directors and the members of the supervisory board were elected from among the ranks and the citizens’ cooperative was founded when they joined the Raiffeisen Revisionsverband. There was unanimity not only in the election of the chairman, former mayor Johann Pötscher, but also in Gerhard Horner, who was elected as his deputy and is responsible for finances. The appointment of the other board members, the supervisory board and its chairman Hermann Ganhör was just as clear. The aim is to build an inn with a guest garden in the former fire department depot in the municipality’s official building on the market square. Preparations for this have been underway for several years, explains Johannes Brandl, who is accompanying the process with the SPES Future Academy. Architects from Pointner Pointner and idWerkstatt reported on the current status of the plans for the renovation. The plan is to complete this by the summer so that tenders can begin in the fall so that work can begin in spring 2025 together with the revitalization of the municipality’s offices.

Great interest from citizens

At several information events in the last few months, it became clear that citizens were very interested in revitalizing the town center with an inn and making a valuable contribution to the quality of life in Schenkenfelden with this meeting point.

Over 300 people, companies and clubs have already subscribed to shares and will therefore become part of the Schenkenfelden citizens’ cooperative. Around 340,000 euros have already been collected through cooperative shares, donations and private loans. It would be desirable to recruit more members over the next few months in order to achieve a solid business basis with as much equity as possible. Additional capital is generated through funding from the state of Upper Austria.

Now subscribe for shares

Also the team of the leader region Sterngartl-Gusental with deputy chairman. Thomas Wolfesberger and managing director Martina Birngruber are pleased about the successful founding of the citizens’ cooperative in Schenkenfelden. Regional development funding Leader guarantees that funding from the EU, the federal government and the state of Upper Austria goes directly to where it is needed, i.e. to the citizens in the communities. In this case, the process of creating the citizens’ cooperative could be financially supported.

Anyone interested can buy shares or contribute financially through donations or private loans.