The fairground alongside the Rhine is open until Easter Monday, filling the air with the aroma of potato fritters and roasted almonds. Although the fairground doesn’t really fill up until the evening, most of the stall and ride owners do not have any complaints. “I am pleased with business”, says Horst Sonnier and gives the start signal for the next round of ‘Break Dance’.

Yet “you can only run such a business as a family” he adds. For the effort is only worth it when mum, dad and wife work together. “The Easter fairground in Beuel is the start of the new season for us” he says. From Beuel the fair moves on to Wiesbaden. Karl-Heinz Kipp, Junior Manager of the bumper cars firmly believes that “something you do from the heart, you do well”. As a Bonn company, the Beuel Easter fairground is always a highlight of the year for the family business. Business however always depends on the weather. “But we are really very pleased with how its going”, adds mother Sabine Kipp.

Many families with children are expected over the weekend and in the afternoons. “In the evenings, younger people visit the fair”, says Karl-Heinz Kipp. “And they like the bumper cars in particular” he says. “The fairground’s days in Bonn are always very important to us” says Sabine Kipp. Frank Osthold-Krämer has no reason to complain. He runs the children’s merry-go-round. “As a Beuel company, it is natural that we should be here” he says. Even if there are now many events with programs for young and old, “the fairground is still economically significant. We cannot complain and we cannot do without it”.

But Uwe Haas has been waiting a long time for a customer. His stand is well filled with roasted almonds and gingerbread hearts are dangling from the roof. “There were better times”, he says and has high hopes for the weekend. “Maybe more visitors will come over the holiday period.” (Orig. text: Gabriele Immenkeppel)