A real mega-event: over 300 showmen on an area of 50,000 square meters, high-tech rides amidst the historic backdrop of Soest's Altstadt (Old Town)
By all the saints! Once a year - and for five days - the time-honored Hanseatic town of Soest is home to something truly incredible:
There are vehicles that are catapulted into the sky. Wheels that are higher than houses. Church spires that sometimes look bright red, bright yellow and then bright green. Spaceships that land in the middle of the street. Monsters standing around the next corner. Bull's eyes that taste delicious. People flying very close to half-timbered houses. Soest residents who can't find their bed for five days.
In short: a city turned upside down.
Okay - for all those who know the Soest All Saints' Fair, this may not sound unusual. But for everyone else it might (still) be. How can you explain what makes our funfair so special to someone who has never been? We've all tried to explain it to others countless times and have been laughed at and deliberately ignored the typical facial expression of our counterpart, which signals "Yes, yes - you talk. How can you be so crazy at a funfair like this". Thankfully, however, there are numerous successful experiences, i.e. enthusiastic newcomers to the club of funfair fans who didn't want to believe what was going on at first.
The fact is, to be able to have a say, you simply have to have been there once. Then you feel, no, then you know why this Soest All Saints' Fair has cult status in large parts of the Ruhrgebiet, why acquaintances, friends and relatives invade Soest in hordes at the beginning of November and occupy the last free guest beds and air mattresses." However, it's not only crowded at home in Soest, but also on the streets and squares of the historic Altstadt, because this is where the "biggest, most beautiful, most wonderful, most original, most unique Altstadtkirmes in all of Europe" takes place. Over 300 showmen cavort on 50,000 square meters, on Thursday for the horse market even a total of 360, transforming the time-honored city center into a particularly large, colorful fair.
If you were to line up all these rides and stalls in a row, the frontage would be three kilometers long. In other words: good footwear and a love of walking are definitely an advantage, as is a love of funfairs, a preference for fresh air and a stable relationship with alcohol and calorie bombs. But you're not alone: During these five great days, the population increases twenty-fold from 50,000 to around one million (visitors).
People know how to celebrate in Soest. Not only alone - guests have always been particularly welcome in the old Hanseatic city
All Saints' Fair Soest - the cult event in the heart of Westfalen