Traditionally, Kirmes Monday is dedicated to "good deeds". Anyone who looked into the beaming eyes of the home children after the carousel rides knew that the voluntary work for children, handicapped people and residents of old people's homes who had not been favoured by fate had paid off.

The association "Pützchens Markt hilft" (Pützchens Market helps) hosted 1250 relatives from 25 institutions in the region - among them 300 carers - on the fair Monday and entertained them for several hours on the fairground. The number of participants is a record in the history of the association.

The showmen involved in the fair have been supporting the campaign since 1958. What started as a working group on the initiative of the three Bonn showmen Karl Hölzgen, Andreas Heinrichs and Hermann Fellerhoff has been continued by the association for many years. On Monday morning, the volunteers packed 800 surprise bags for the children.

The "Infinity" ride also resumed operation on Monday afternoon. A technical defect had caused the crowd favourite to stand still since Saturday evening. As an employee of the operating company Hoefnagels told the GA, a hydraulic cylinder of the podium was defective. Among other things, the repair was time-consuming because the spare part had to be delivered from the Netherlands.

Late on Sunday evening, the "Aeronaut" tower opposite was also hit. The highly sensitive safety system triggered an emergency stop. As a result, passengers had to wait in the evening sky for about 20 minutes until they were lowered again. However, the 80-metre tower resumed normal operation on Monday morning. "This safety measure is built in to ensure that nothing happens. If there is the slightest error message, the ride is stopped," an employee told the GA.

The city's public order service has only had a few incidents on the market grounds so far. Alcohol and cigarettes were destroyed during two youth protection checks. In addition, the staff gave a warning to a wild child and handed over three lost children to their parents. Together with the police, the motorway exit Pützchen had to be closed from the afternoon until the early evening due to the large crowd. In addition, the curfew had to be enforced at two bar outlets.

The city's rescue and medical services had to intervene almost 50 times. Most of the interventions were due to alcohol consumption, circulatory problems or physical altercations. The fire brigade has not had to deal with any fires so far.

The City of Bonn is satisfied with the interim results. Market manager Kathrin Krumbach: "Pützchens Markt 2022 has so far been the happy and peaceful festival that we as organisers would like to see. And we are confident that it will stay that way until the closing fireworks on Tuesday evening.“

So far, the City of Bonn's food monitoring department has inspected a total of 110 businesses. According to the city, the traders were well informed about the legal regulations and implemented them. 28 businesses were criticised, for example, because refrigerated trucks had not been sufficiently cleaned before being put into operation. Structural deficiencies and missing or insufficient hand-washing facilities also prompted the city's food inspectors to intervene. According to the city, all deficiencies could be remedied on site.

Original text: Holger Willcke

Translation: Mareike Graepel