The weather risk always remains
A critical look always goes up. Since 1927, the local play "die schutzfrau von munnerstadt" has been performed on the anger and since then there have been repeated cancellations. "The most difficult thing is to make the decision", says bruno eckert, who was chairman of the home game community for 45 years. Claudia kind, his successor, hopes that she will be spared such a situation for as long as possible. Because: "actually we can’t afford a failure", she says. Good for the visitors: even if a game is cancelled, there is a small replacement program.
Set-up starts at 7 a.M
Normally, on a homecoming sunday, the helpers meet at 7 a.M. To set up the barriers, the stage set and the chairs. If the weather is uncertain, this date can be postponed, says claudia kind. "We have a ‘whatsapp group,’ and anyone who is not in it gets a call. Around 10 o’clock it starts to get critical.
The problem: everything that moved (music bands, carriages, etc.) had to be replaced.), must also be paid. A late cancellation costs more money. Then there is the loss of income, which is between 4000 and 5000 euros with an average number of visitors. At least, since tickets are reserved and paid for at the box office, home players don’t have to worry about refunds. But a cancellation is always bitter. There is no solution.
There are several reasons for this. Several years ago, bruno eckert had already thought about a roof for the spectator area and the stage and had asked for offers from experts. "That is very expensive", he says. A roof in front of the home game house would also disturb the scenery. Even rain capes are not a solution for him for acoustic reasons. For the performers, especially for horses and riders, it becomes really dangerous when it rains: the basalt pavement becomes extremely slippery. In addition, many of the costumes must not be allowed to get wet. "And the carpet on the stage takes a week to dry again." even if today there are still occasional uncertain weather conditions, the forecast is much more reliable than in the past. Roman jonas, long-time treasurer at the home game community, tells how people used to get around in the past. "So the relatives in frankfurt were called and asked about the weather. If it rained there in the morning, the probability was high that it would hit munnerstadt in the afternoon. Roman jonas kept accurate records.
Since 1956 (in 1955 the season was cancelled for other reasons) there have been 13 match cancellations. Eight were on the first day of play, five on the third. "Not once was the second game day cancelled, which is usually the guardian angel festival," says bruno eckert, he says. The first matchday in 2013 and the first matchday in 2014 were the last cancellations. Bruno eckert has a lot of curiosities to tell about the game cancellations. In the past, when there was no "open day of the monument", the "gelage im schloss" was held in the castle usually takes place on the last match day. Then the players could also cash in their vouchers, which is why the sales were always quite rough. If a game was cancelled and there were fewer guests, the home players bought everything up. "The bread was enough for a few days", says bruno eckert. On one occasion, franz beck ordered roast beef from the former butcher’s shop kersten. And then the game was cancelled. Bruno eckert had already prepared himself for the next few days of roast beef at his place, because the home players naturally felt obliged to pick up what they had ordered. But hugo kersten relieved them of this task, he delivered the roast lamb to their delight somewhere else. The first day of play went over the stage in great weather. If it had rained, the game would have been cancelled, but the event could still have taken place in the rooms of the castle. The guests were entertained with hans-sachs games. For the coming weekend again nice weather is announced. On saturday there will be the camp life on the anger and on sunday the guardian angels market with the performance of the local play.
"Nothing would have been worse after the generation change in the board of directors than to miss three days of play", says treasurer wolfgang joa. He can be reassured in the meantime. Three matches have never been cancelled due to bad weather. Two, however, have, most recently in the 1980s.
